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MEMOIRS 



OF 



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COUNT MIOT DE MELITO 



MINISTER, AMBASSADOR, COUNCILLOR OF STATE 

AND MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, BETWEEN THE YEARS 

1788 AND 1815 



EDITED BY 



GENERAL FLEISCHMANN 



FROM THE FRENCH BY 

MRS. CASHEL HOEY- and MR. JOHN LILLIE 



IVITH NOTES AND AN INDEX PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR THE 

AMERICAN EDITION. 



Ikkii'h^ 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

743 AND 745 Broadway 
1881 



X 



,Mfe7 A2-3 



CoP^'RIGHT 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

i88i 

{All rights rescKZ'ed.) 



ITHB UBRART 

OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON fJ 



PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



My purpose in placing before the public the recollections of 
Count Miot, my father-in-law, as a contribution to the large 
number of works which treat of the Great French Revo- 
lution and the events of the early years of the nineteenth 
century, is to aid writers who desire to throw a new light 
upon the history of those times. I believe that no mate- 
rials supplied by contemporaries can be superfluous for 
the accurate and sufficient representation of all that was 
memorable, great and terrible in that epoch, and for a 
true estimate of the influence which it has exercised and 
still exercises upon the destinies of mankind. 

Count Miot passed through a great revolution, but his 
recollections of it were untinged by personal regret. He 
had nothing to disguise or to excuse. It was for many 
years his constant habit to write down every evening all 
that he had learned or observed during the day. These 
notes of the events in which he was nearly concerned con- 
tain important details, for the most part unknown, and 
place the origin of those events in a clear and accurate 
light. In arranging them to meet the eyes of the public, 
I have thought it advisable to suppress all that possesses 
interest for the family of Count Miot only, but I have 
scrupulously refrained from adding anything that might 



IV PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



affect the nature of the impressions which were produced! 
by the events on the mind of the author. This book; 
must not, therefore, be confounded with the fabricated! 
Memoirs so profusely offered to the pubhc within the last: 
thirty years — works not indeed without merit, and ini 
many instances written with ability, but in which their' 
reputed authors have little share. ^ 

The readers of his Memoirs will probably agree with 
or differ from Count Miot's views and judgment of men 
and things, according to their own opinions, likes, and 
dislikes ; but they cannot fail to close the book with sen- 
timents of esteem and regard for its author, as a good 
man, and one who sincerely loved his country and man- 
kind. 

General Fleischmann. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 



PACK 

ill 



CHAPTER I. 

The Author enters upon his career — The training-camp at Saint- 
Omer — Comte de Guibert — The effect produced upon the troops 
by an ill-timed attempt to introduce the Prussian system of mili- 
tary organisation— The camp is abruptly broken up — The changed 
aspect of the Court of Versailles at the close of the year 1783 — 
The various parties at the Court — The deputies of the Tiers Etat 
are ill-received— Opening of the States-General — Establishment of 
the National Guard — The Court forms projects hostile to the Na- 
tional Assembly — The banquet of the Body Guard — Intention of 
the Court to leave Versailles — Events of the 5th and 6ih of Octo- 
ber — The King and the Royal Family are taken to Paris 



CHAPTER II. 

The loth of August, 1792— The Author escapes a decree of accusa- 
tion — M. Lacu6e provisional Chief of the War Department — 
Joseph Servan, Minister — The Author ceases to be Chief of Divi- 
sion at the Ministry, and enters the Administration of Military 
Affairs as Comptroller-General — Servan is succeeded in the Min- 
istry by Pache and Hassenfratz, who disorganise its administra- 
tion — Pache is dismissed, and succeeded by Beurnonville — The 
Author resumes his former post at the Ministry — Bouchotte suc- 
ceeds Beurnonville — The Author is made Secretary-General in 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Deforgues — Sketches of 
some of the leaders of the Terror — Fall of Deforgues, who is suc- 
ceeded at the Foreign Office by a schoolmaster named Buchot — 
The Author, denounced as a " Moderate," is placed under a de- 
cree of accusation, together with MM. Otto, Colchen, and Rein- 
hart — Thejf are saved by the 9th Thermidor — The Author is ap- 
pointed Commissioner of Foreign Aft'airs — His communications 
with the Committee of Public Safety — Treaties of peace with Tus- 
cany and Prussia 18 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

PAGE 

The Author is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany — The I2ih Germinal — The Author embarks at 
Marseilles for Genoa, and proceeds from thence to Florence — 
Report to the Committee of Public Safety on the political state of 
Florence — Difficulties caused by the presence of the French Emi- 
gres at Leghorn, and by the ill-will of the Tuscan authorities tow- 
ards the Republic — General Buonaparte appointed to the com- 
mand of the Army of Italy — Opening of the campaign and series 
of victories obtained by the young General — The Governments of 
Italy take steps towards obtaining peace — The Author determines 
to proceed to Buonaparte's headquarters 35 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Author's interview with General Buonaparte — Conclusion of 
the armistice between the General and Prince Pignatelli, Pleni- 
potentiary at Naples — The Author returns to Florence — He goes 
away again to visit General Buonaparte at Bologna — His inter- 
view with him — The Author does not succeed in preventing the 
violation of the neutrality of Tuscany and the occupation of Leg- 
horn by the French — In returning from Leghorn, General Buona- 
parte stops at Florence, visits the Grand Duke, and dines with 
him — A treaty being concluded between the Pope and the French 
Republic, the Author goes to Rome to secure the fulfilment of i>s 
conditions — The gloomy fanaticism reigning in Rome — Some dis- 
contented Italians having claimed the intervention of the French 
tor the purpose of introducing Republican Institutions in Italy, 
the Author, instructed by the Directory to inform them of his 
views, strongly opposes the project — Being superseded by Cacault 
in the duty of superintending the fulfilment of the terms of the 
armistice at Rome, the Author returns to Florence — Rumours of 
the reverses experienced by Buonaparte produce great excite- 
ment in Italy — The Governments no longer conceal their tenden- 
cies, and the Author sends M. Freville to Paris to point out to 
the Directory the necessity of excluding Austria from all influence 
in Italy, and of destroying the Papal Government— The Author is 
appointed Ambassador at Turin, but before entering upon the 
exercise of his functions, he has to undertake a mission to Cor- 
sica as Commissioner- Extraordinary of the Government — Sketch 
of the State of Tuscany, the conditions of life, and customs of the 
Florentines 48 



CHAPTER V. 

Letter from General Buonaparte — The Author embarks at Leghorn 
and arrives at Bastia, where he finds Salicclti — He is instructed 
to adopt a system of conciliation, and to endeavour to reconcile 
party divisions — He publishes a proclamation accordingly — Politi- 
cal situation of Corsica — Some seditious risings are repressed and 



CONTENTS. vii 



tranquillity re-established — Administration and laws organised, 
first in the department of Golo, and next in that of Liamone — 
Journey from Bastia to Ajaccio by Corte and the Col de Guizza- 
vano, and from Ajaccio to Bonifacio by Gartena 79 



CHAPTER VI. 

rhe Author leaves Corsica with Joseph Buonaparte, goes to Flor- 
ence, and from thence to Milan — He visits General Buonaparte, 
then residing with his family at Montebello, after a brilliant cam- 
paign terminated by the treaty of Tolentino — The peace prelimi- 
naries of Leoben and the transformation of the Governments of 
Venice and Genoa — Lukewarm Republicanism of the General — A 
remarkable conversation in which Buonaparte reveals his future 
plans — The Author goes to Turin — Political situation of Pied- 
mont and its Government — Embarrassment caused to the Author 
"by the secret agents maintained in Piedmont by the Directory 
with revolutionary objects — The Sardinian Government, support- 
ed by Buonaparte, displays excessive severity in putting down 
the partial insurrections in Piedmont — The Author goes to Milan 
to have an interview with Buonaparte — Situation of the different 
parties in the Directory and the Councils in Paris before the Coup 
(T Etat of the i8th Fructidor — Buonaparte decides on supporting 
the Revolutionary party — The Author accompanies General and 
Madame Buonaparte in an expedition to Lake Maggiore— He re- 
turns to Turin after having agreed with the General upon the 
course he is to take there — The i8th Fructidor — Its consequences 
as regarded the position of the Sardinian Government, which as 
a result of the treaty of Campo-Formio, found itself deprived of 
Buonaparte's support — The Directory separates the General from 
the Army of Italy by giving him a command in the interior — Buo- 
naparte, in going to Rastadt, passes through Turin — His conver- 
sation with the Author — The position of the Sardinian Govern- 
ment becomes more and more precarious go 



CHAPTER VII. 

rhe Author is recalled from the Embassy at Turin, and is succeeded 
by Ginguene — Joseph Buonaparte, having left Rome after the as- 
sassination of General Duphot, stays with the Author at Turin, 
on his way to Paris — Berthier marches on Rome, overthrows the 
Pope's Government and proclaims the Roman Republic — Monge 
and Dannou, being sent by the Directory to organise the new Re- 
public, pass through Turin — The hostile dispositions of the 
Directory toward the King of Sardinia are more and more openly 
displayed — Ginguene, accompanied by Garat, arrives at Turin on 
his way to Naples as ambassador there — The Author presents his 
letters of recall to the King of Sardinia, and takes advantage of 
his leisure to make an excursion in the Alps — On returning, he 
leaves for Paris — Sketch of the state of Italy at the beginning of 
1798, and of the events that took place after the departure of the 
Author 117 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGB 

The Author arrives in Paris — He finds certain changes in the man- 
ners and habits of Parisian society — He is received coldly by the 
Members of the Directory, and by the persons who frequent their 
'sd/ons — He sees Buonaparte — The General's motives for under- 
taking the expedition to Egypt — Popular rising at Vienna, in 
consequence of which the French Legation leaves that city — The 
Directory, fearing that war with Austria will break out afresh, de- 
cides on sending General Buonaparte ta Rastadt — The dangers 
with which the Directory would be threatened by the ambitious 
projects of the General, cause them to rescind this decision, and 
Buonaparte leaves at once, to embark at Toulon — The Author is 
summoned to join a Council called together on account of dis- 
putes in the Department of the Interior — Failures of the Direc- 
tory in the management of public affairs — Reverses of the French 
arms— Partial overthrow of the Directory, and Ministerial changes 
— The Author goes to Holland with Deforgues, who is appointed 
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Dutch Republic — In passing 
through Morforitaine he hears that Buonaparte's brothers had sent 
a communication to the General which may induce him to return 
to France— Deforgues and the Author travel by way of Lille, 
Bruges, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Harlem, and 
arrive at Alkmaer, the headquarters of Brune — Situation of mili- 
tary affairs in Holland — The travellers proceed to the Hague — 
Political state of the country— Capitulation of the Duke of York, 
and evacuation of the territory of the Dutch Republic by the 
Anglo-Russian army 131 



CHAPTER IX. 

The news of the Revolution of iSth and 19th Brumaire reaches the 
Hague— The Author, who is summoned to Paris to fill the office 
of Secretary-General to the Ministry of War. leaves the Hague — 
The physiognomy of Paris —Narrative of the events of Brumaire 
— Interview of the Author with Buonaparte- Sieyes' plan for a 
Constitution is rejected— The Constitution of year VIII. is adopt- 
ed—The Author is appointed a member of the Tribunate — The 
nat^ire of that Institution — A spirit of opposition within it is de- 
veloped at an inopportune moment- Rapid increase of the au- 
thority and power of the First Consul, who adopts monarchical 
forms more and more decidedly — Rumours of conspiracies serve 
as a pretext for arbitrary measures— Fouch6 and Lucien Buona- 
p.irte quarrel violently in the presence of the First Consul— The 
system of fusion of parties carried out with success by the First 
Consul i_j3 

CHAPTER X. 

The peace negotiations with Austria are broken off. and a renewal of 
hostilities is decided upon— The First Consul endeavours to make 
the people believe in his attachment to the Constitution and to 
% 



CONTENTS. IX 



reassure the friends of Liberty — He leaves Paris, to take com- 
mand of the Army— His victories — The state of feeling in Paris 
after the departure of the First Consul — Rumours of changes to 
be made in the Constitution in favour of the power of the First 
Consul, and for the purpose of introducing the principle of hered- 
itary succession-^Discussioa on me consequences of the possible 
death of the First Consul — The news of the victory of Marengo 
cuts this short, and throws Paris into transports of joy — Great 
position of the First Consul — His return to Paris — Negotiations 
for peace are opened with Austria — The dispositions of the bellig- 
erent parties — The real designs of the First Consul more and 
more clearly revealed — His solicitude to gain the affection of the 
army — Arbitrary condemnation of General Latour-Foissac — Mod- 
ification of laws concerning the " emigres''' — Manifestation of the 
sentiments of the First Consul on religious matters— Steps are 
talcen to bring about an understanding with the Pope — The hered- 
itary idea makes progress in the public mind — The palace of 
Saint-Cloud is placed at the disposal of the Government — Great 
influence of Cambaceres and Talleyrand over the First Consul — 
The Author is named Councillor of State 165 



CHAPTER XI. 

A treaty of Peace with the United States is signed — Incident con- 
nected with the date of that Treaty — The active part taken by the 
First Consul in the deliberations of the Council of State — The 
proposed law on the formation of lists of Eligibles is abandoned 
— The Republican conspiracy of Ceracchi and its consequences — 
Reform of the laws on Emigration — Letter from Louis XVIII. to 
the First Consul — Arrival of Count von Cobentzel to negotiate for 
peace — Rudeness of the First Consul to that Minister, who leaves 
Paris on his way to Luneville — Dissensions between the First 
Consul and his brother Lucien — Violent dispute between the lat- 
ter and Fouche — Lucien is removed from the Ministry of the In- 
terior and appointed Ambassador to Madrid — The Author is 
selected for a second Mission to Corsica — Opinions expressed by 
the First Consul during the debates of the Council of State 187 



CHAPTER XIL 

Moreau gains a victory at Hohenlinden over the Austrians — Cele- 
bration of that victory in Paris — The Author prepares for his jour- 
ney to Corsica, but his departure is deferred in consequence of the 
attempt of the 3d Nivose — Details of that event — Its immediate 
result — Wrath of the First Consul with the Terrorists — Extra- 
legal measures proposed against that faction, by means of uncon- 
stitutional powers conferred on the Senate — Extraordinary sit- 
ting of the Council of State— Reports by the Police — Debate, and 
decrees of the Consuls now converted into a Senatus-Consultum 
— The Police prove that the authors of the attempt of the 3d 
Nivose belong to the Royalist party, and arrest the real criminals 



X CONTENTS. 



— Successful issue of the peace negotiations at Lun6ville — The 
Author sets out on his journey, having received his instructions 
from the First Consul — Disorganised slate of the south of France 
— Admiral Ganteaume and his squadron — The Author leaves Tou- 
lon in the war-sloop Hirondclle and lands at Calvi 203 



CHAPTER XIII. 

State of Corsica at the period of the Author's arrival — His proposed 
system for the administration of the country — Difficulties thrown 
in his way by the partisans of the Bonaparte family, and the 
military authorities — He dismisses General Muller, Commandant 
of the Division, from the island — Improvements introduced into 
the country — An account of the Author's excursion to Monte-Ro- 
londo — Curious fete given in his honour at Cervione — The organic 
laws of the Concordat concluded with the Pope — The Life-Con- 
sulship — Little interest shown by the Corsicans in voting for it — 
Numerous adverse votes among the troops— Journey to Monte 
d'Oro — Information concerning the Bonaparte family and their \ 

origin — The Author is recalled, and Corsica is again placed under 
the rule of the Constitution — Sketch of the state of the island and 
the customs of the inhabitants 224 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Author returns to Paris — His reception by the First Consul — 
Monarchical customs and strict etiquette with which the First 
Consul surrounded himself — Joseph Bonaparte imparts the secret 
designs and great projects of the First Consul to the Author — 
Lord VVhitworth, the English Ambassador in Paris — General 
Moreau is feted at the Ministry of War — Government-mourning 
on the occasion of the death of General Leclerc — New coinage 
witK the effigy of the First Consul — Lavish endowment of the 
Senate — The political relations between France and England be- 
come strained — Irritation of the First Consul with the English 
Press — Conversation between Bonaparte and Lord Whitworth — 
Colonel Sebastiani's Report, published in the Moniteur — The 
Kinj^'s speech to Parliament is hostile to France — Effect pro- 
duced by it in Paris — Progress of the crisis and of the negotia- 
tions, official and secret, prior to the definitive rupture between 
France and England — Simultaneous departure of Lord Whitworth 
from Paris and of General Andreossy from London— Appendix : 
Lord Whitworth's Despatch of February 21, 1803, to Lord Hawkes 
bury 247 



CHAPTER XV. 

Commencement of hostilities — Severe treatment of the English in 
France — The First Consul's anger with England is shared by the 
great Bodies of the State — Disloyal Conduct of the English Gov- 



CONTENTS. XI 



PAGE 



ernment towards France — rFrench troops enter the Kingdom of 
Naples and occupy Hanover — A strict etiquette is established by 
the Fiist Consul — A theatrical representation at the Palace of 
Saint-Cloud is followed by the delivery of an Ode composed by 
M de Fontanes — Adoption of the first chapters of the Civil Code 
— Remarkable shcire taken by the First Consul in the debates on 
this work — His journey to Belgium — Servility shown towards him 
by the authorities, Civil, Military, and Clerical — Disgust felt by 
the Parisians at such excessive flattery — The First Consul's on- 
ward progress towards supreme power — He causes propositions to 
be made to Louis XVHI., who declines his offers — Dissensions 
between Napoleon and his brothers — Disagreement between 
France and Russia — First preparations for an invasion of England 
— M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body — Re imposi- 
tion of taxes on food, under the name of droits-7'eunis 279 

CHAPTER XVL 

Reconciliation between Napoleon and Joseph Bonaparte — ^Real, 
Councillor of State, is entrusted with the Superintendence of Po- 
lice — Establishment of General Commissioners of Police in the 
principal towns of France — Debate on this subject in the Council 
of State — Plot against the First Consul's life by Georges Cadou- 
dal and Pichegru — Complicity of Moreau — Details of the exami- 
nation of the accused — The Chief Judge's report on the facts of 
the case is communicated to the Chief Bodies of the State — Their 
replies — Examination of Moreau's papers by Regnault de Saint 
Jean-d'Angely and the Author — State of the contributions levied 
by Moreau in Germany — Plan and intentions of the principal con- 
spirators — Royalist character of the plot — Pichegru and Cadoudal 
are arrested— The discoveries made by the Police respecting this 
conspiracy compromise indirectly a great number of persons — 
Cares and troubles of the First Consul — The Due d'Enghein is 
seized at the Chateau d'Ettenheim in Baden by a detachment of 
French troops — The Prince is brought before a military commis- 
sion at Vincennes, is condemned to death, and shot — Consterna- 
tion in Paris — Bonaparte's speech to the Council of State con- 
cerning this event — Ball given by Talleyrand three days after the 
death of the Due d'Enghein 297 

CHAPTER XVn. 

The First Consul is obliged to accept the principle of heredity in the 
succession to the supreme magistracy — Address from the Senate, 
asking for that guarantee of stability — Public opinion is in favour 
of Heredity — Preliminary debate on the date of the adoption of 
that principle, and on the title to be assumed by the Chief of the 
State — Bonaparte makes it a point that hereditary power should 
be offered to him by the Revolutionary Party — Restrictions placed 
by him on the hereditary system — The question is discussed by 
the Council of State — The First Consul reverts to the idea of 
adopting the son of Louis Bonaparte as his successor — He makes 
an overture to Louis with that view — Indignation of the latter and 



xii CONTENTS. 



of Joseph Bonaparte— The First Consul is reconciled with his 
brothers, ami resolves to include ihein in the succession - Louis is 
appointed Gcnt-ral of Division, and Joseph accepts command of a 
regiment of the line -^A Privy Council summoned at St. Cloud 
adopts heredity, and decrees that lionaparte shall assume the 
title of Emperor, and shall be consecrated and crowned as such- 
The First Consul sends a message to the Senate to elicit a clearer 
statement on the new institutions that are to be established — The 
Senate appoints a Committee for that purpose — At the Tribunate, 
a motion, offering the Crown to Bonaparte, is made by Curee, 
and seconded by Simeon — The Senatus-Consultum adopting the 
proposition of the Tribunate is submitted to the Council of State, 
and is definitively adopted by that body — The Senate conveys to 
the First Consul at St. Cloud the law proclaiming Napoleon Bona- 
parte Emperor of the French 316 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Ct'eation of the great Dignitaries of the Empire — The denomination 
of Ciiizc-n is abolished and the title of JAj/zj-Z^ ;/r restored — Failure 
of a tragedy by Carrion-Nisas at the Theatre Fran9ais — New oath 
taken by members of the great authorities of the State— New seal 
of State— Trial of Georges Cadoudal, Pichegru, and their accom- 
plices—Suicide of Pichegru— Verdict — Moreau is condemned to 
two years' imprisonment —Clemency of the Emperor — Eagerness 
of the numerous place-hunters and seekers after favour at the Im- 
perial Court -Negotiations in Rome to induce the Pope to come 
to Paris and consecr.ite the Emperor— Dissensions in the Council 
of State respecting the date and ceremonies of the coronation- 
Debate on the framing of the Criminal Code — Attempt of the Gov- 
ernment to abolish trial by jury— The Author visits Prince Joseph 
at Boulogne— Simplicity of the habits of the latter ; his affected 
disdain of the high rank to which he is raised by the elevation of 
his brother Napoleon— The army at Boulogne — Preparations for 
the descent on England — The Author, summoned to St. Cloud, is 
appointed by the Emperor to undertake the High Police of the 
Northern Departments of France— His conversation with Napo- 
leon on the subject of Prince Joseph 337 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The ceremonial of the distribution of the crosses of the Legion of 
Honour in Paris— The Emperor proceeds to Boulogne and per- 
forms the same ceremony at the camp — His return to Paris is fol- 
lowed by that of Prince Joseph — Russia and England — The Em- 
peror's satisfaction at the prospect of a Continental war — He dis- 
closes gigantic projects to his generals in order to stimulate their 
ambition — He detaches himself from the Republican party, and 
inclines to the old nobility — The ambassador of Austria is fur- 
nished with new letters of credit to the Emperor of the French — 
The Pope consents to come to Paris for the Coronation — That 
solemnity is definitely fixed for the beginning of December — The 
formation of the Emperor's household and of those of his brotheis 



CONTENTS. xiii 



PAGE 

— Curious omission in the wording of the National Vote on the 
Iniperial succession— Discussion on the ceremonial of the corona- 
tion — Violent altercation between Napoleon and Joseph — An ex- 
planation takes place between the Emperor and Prince Joseph at 
Fontainebleau, in consequence of which the latter conforms to 
the views of his brother — The result of the votes of the people on 
the Imperial system is taken in State to the Tuileries by the Sen- 
ate — Coronation and consecration of the Emperor and Empress, 
followed by numerous fetes — Solemn opening of the Legislative 
session — Addresses from the Legislative Body and the Tribunate 
—An incident relating to the terms used in those addresses 352 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Emperor again offers the crown of Lombardy to Prince Joseph, 
who refuses it — He wishes to bestow it on the son of Prince 
Louis, but the latter also declines Napoleon's proposal — In conse- 
quence of this refusal, the Emperor destines Eugene Beauharnais 
to the throne of Italy, and raises him, as well as General Murat. 
to princely rank — Hostile attitude of the Northern Powers — The 
Emperor explains at the Council of State the real object of ihe 
preparations for a descent on England — He addresses a letter on 
behalf of peace to the King of England, but without effect — Napo- 
leon contrives that a deputation from the Italian Republic, con- 
verted into a Monarchy, shall offer him the crown of Italy, which 
he accepts — The Pope leaves Paris to return to Rome — The Em- 
peror, after a reconciliation with his brother Joseph, proceeds to 
Milan, to be crowned King of Italy, and appoints Prince Eugene 
his viceroy — Joseph returns to the Boulogne camp — The Author 
proceeds to Belgium on a special mission from the Government 
— Prosperity and good dispositions of the inhabitants — Public 
works for the establishment of a military port at Antwerp — An- 
nexation of the Ligurian Republic to France — Return of the Em- 
peror from Milan — The continuance of peace on the Continent 
becomes more and more doubtful — The combined squadrons of 
France and Spain are obliged, after a disastrous engagement, to 
take refuge at Corunna — The Emperor hastens the preparations 
for the embarkation of the troops at Boulogne — The Viennese 
Cabinet despatches its armies to Bavaria, and sends an ultimatum 
to Paris— War is decided on, and the troops assembled at Bou- 
logne are ordered to the Rhine — Restoration of the Greek Calen- 
dar — The Emperor's allocution at the State Council — Provisions 
for regulating the powers of the Government during the Emper- 
or's absence — After having presided at a State Sitting of the Sen- 
ate, Napoleon sets out to join the army 369 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Unpopularity of the war with the inhabitants of Paris — Embarrass- 
ment of the Bank of France and of the Public Exchequer— Declara- 
tion of War by Austria and Russia — The impression produced in 
France — -Marvellous successes of the French Army — Defeat of the 
combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar — Battle of Aus- 



xiv CONTENTS. 



terlitz — Mopes of peace entertained by the Parisians in conse- 
quence of the arrival of Austrian Plenipotentiaries at Napoleon's 
headquarters- Displeasure of the Emperor— The Presburg Treaty 
of Peace — The Emperor commands Prince Joseph to place him- 
self at the head of a French army, and drive the King of Naples 
from his States, as he had broken his neutrality in the recent war 
—The Emperor, on his way back from Vienna, stays at Munich 
to arrange a marriage between Prince Eugene and Princess Au- 
gusta of Bavaria— The author receives commands to join Prince 
Joseph at Naples — He has an audience to. take leave of the Em- 
peror — He receives instructions from M. de Talleyrand — He 
leaves Paris — He sees Lucien Bonaparte at Rome and arrives at 
Naples a week later than Prince Joseph— Situation of affairs — 
Formation of a Ministry — Two letters from the Emperor — Gigan- 
tic projects — Hard work of the Government at Naples — Silent op- 
position of Prince Joseph to the Emperor's views — General Rcg- 
nier occupies Calabria — Prince Joseph resolves on visiting that 
province 3S7 

CHAPTER XXn 

Prince Joseph's journey in the Calabrias — On April 3d, in Prov- 
inces, the travellers are met by a courier bringing tidings of the 
Emperor's decree calling Prince Joseph to the throne of Naples, 
and creating Prince Murat Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal 
Berthier Prince of Neuchatel — The new King's State entry into 
Naples — The English seize on the island of Capri — Trial and ex- 
ecution of the Marquis of Rodio — A Council of State is instituted 
— The Neapolitan and French parties in the administration — The 
eruption of Mount Vesuvius— The English land in the Gulf of 
Saint Euphemia, defeat General Regnier, and force the French to 
evacuate the Calabrias, which rise in insurrection — The surrender 
of Gaeta— Massena marches against the Calabrias, puts down the 
insurrection, and drives out the English — Administrative meas- 
ures of the Government — Excursions made by the Author in the 
neighbourhood of Naples — Embarrassment caused to the Govern- 
ment, by the imminent danger of war in the north— The French 
victories remove this danger, and the Administration is in conse- 
quence carried on with greater regularity — Financial difficulties — 
The^convents of St. Benedict and St. Bernard are suppressed, but 
the mendicant orders are maintained — The King and the Author 
disagree on this subject — A change in the ministry — The auspi- 
cious influence of the peace of Tilsit upon the Neapolitan Govern- 
ment — Encouragment of Arts and Sciences— Public works and 
improvement in the capital 405 

CHAPTER XXHI. 

The solemnity of the miracle of St. Januarius — King Joseph being 
summoned to an interview with Napoleon at Venice proceeds 
thither and learns that the Emperor intends him for the throne of 
Spain — Joseph agrees to his brother's project -Attempted assas- 
sination of Salicetti, the Minister of Police — The islaml of Corfu 
% 



CONTENTS. XV 



is revictualled by a squadron under Admiral Ganteaume — Sensa- 
tion produced at Naples by the display of a French Naval force — 
Arrival of Queen Julia — The King sets out to join the Emperor at 
Bayonne — Before relinquishing the throne of Naples, he institutes 
a new order of Knighthood, instead of that of St. Januarius, 
founds a Royal Society of Science and Literature, and gives a 
Constitutional Statute to the Kingdom — Joseph abdicates the 
throne of Naples, to which the Grand Duke of Berg is raised by 
the Emperor, under the name of Joachim Napoleon — The Author 
leaves Naples to follow King Joseph to Spain — He stays in 
Rome, where the rupture between Napoleon and the Pope is the 
cause of hostile measures — ^^At Lyons he meets King Murat on his 
way to take possession of the throne of Naples — Melancholy ac- 
count given by that prince of the state of affairs in Spain — He at 
last joins King Joseph at Miranda de Ebro — Appendix : Letter 
from Rome on the rupture between the Pope and the Emperor — 
Secret instructions given by the Holy See , 422 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Alleged secret Articles of the Treaty of Tilsit — King Joseph leaves 
Bayonne for Spain on July 8, 1808 — Marshal Bessieres' victory 
near Medina de Rio-Seco throws open the road to Madrid — Hav- 
ing entered the capital on July 20, he withdraws from it on the 
29th of same month, in consequence of the catastrophe at Baylen, 
which also causes the French troops to fall back on the Ebro — 
The King takes up his residence at Miranda de Ebro, where the 
Author joins him on September 10— Appendix : Details of the 
capitulation of General Dupont at Baylen 438 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Capitulation of General Junot in Portugal — The French army leaves 
the line of the Ebro and falls back on Vittoria — The Emperor 
arrives at that city on the 7th of November — He deeply offends 
Spanish pride by the insulting violence of his language — He 
orders his numerous troops to advance, and follows them on the 
loth of November — Marshal Souk's victory over the army of 
Estremadura opens the gates of Burgos to the French, and the 
Emperor removes his headquarters thither on the nth — Frightful 
ravages committed by the French army on its march — King 
Joseph's indignation and grief affect his health — The good under- 
standing between the brothers is again impaired, Napoleon look- 
ing upon Spain as his own conquest, and allowing no authority 
there except his own — The Author advises Joseph to relinquish 
the crown of Spain, but is not listened to — Marshal Lannes hav- 
ing beaten the troops of Castafios, near Tudela, the Emperor re- 
moves his headquarters to Aranda de Duero — Engagement at 
Somo-Sierra — The King, who constantly follows the Imperial 
Headquarters, at last joins Napoleon at Chamartin, near Madrid, 
the inhabitants of which place seem resolved on its defence — Re- 
tiro is attacked and taken — Madrid capitulates and the French 



xvi CONTENTS. 



take possession of the town — The Emperor continues to exercise 
the sole sovereign authority, and the King retires to Prado — 
Numerous confiscations are ordered by Napoleon — The Austrian 
armaments, and the march of the P^nglish troops under Sir John 
Moore, who threatens Valladolid, induce the Emperor before leav- 
ing Madrid to effect a reconciliation with Joseph— Arrangement 
come to by the two brothers 453 



CHAPTER XXyi. 

The King leaves his retirement and proceeds to Aranjuez, and 
thence to Ocafia, where Marshal Victor is — The beauty of Aran- 
juez — The King takes up his residence at Florida— A Spanish 
division under the Duke del Infantado is defeated by Marshal 
Victor — Precipitate retreat of the English, who are pursued by 
Marshal Soult — The King reconstructs his household and makes 
his entry into Madrid — A favourable change in the feelings of 
the inhabitants is apparent 472 : 

CHAPTER XXVn. 

Impossibility of a lasting reconciliation between the Spanish Nation 
and their new King, because of the state of subjection in which 
the latter was kept by the Emperor — Sui render of Saragossa — Vic- 
tory gained by the Duke de Belluna over General Cuesta — Creation 
of a Council of State — The attempt to recruit the Finances by the 
sale of National property — Increasing dissensions between the 
King and the Emperor, the result of which was to paralyse every 
Government measure and to render Joseph's authority nugatory 
— Appendix : Some particulars concerning the second siege of 
Saragossa 477; 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A second English army lands at Lisbon, and forces Marshal Soult 
to evacuate Portugal, and fall back, with Marshal Ney, on As- 
torga and Salamanca — The Junta brings two new armies into the 
fiePd, intended to cooperate with the English — At the same time 
the Junta adopts the system of guerilla warfare — The King at the 
head of the fourth army corps marches against General Venegas, 
who declines battle and retires to the Sierra-Morena — The gueril- 
las advance to the gates of Madrid — The English succeed in join- 
ing the army of General Cuesta, and march against the Duke of 
Belluna — The King leaves Madrid to proceed to the headquar- 
ters of the latter — llis departure creates great alarm in the capital 
— Retreat of Cuesta and the English after the battle of Talavera 
— Defeat of Venegas at the battle of Almoncciad — The King re- 
turns to Madrid on August 15— Suppression of the Monasteries — 
Government Reforms — The King makes an excursion to San Ilde- 
foriso and to Segovia — Description of these places — Return of the 
King to Madrid — His efforts to improve the Governmental system 



CONTENTS. xvii 



are rendered vain by the enmity of the nation — The Emperor is 
displeased with the conduct of the war in Spain — A fresh army 
levied by the Junta and commanded by General Arizaga, appears 
in La Mancha, and marches on Madrid — It is dispersed near 
Ocafia by the King — General Kellerman defeats another Spanish 
army commanded by the Duke del Parque, at Alba de Tormes— 
The King resolves to undertake the conquest of Andalusia 485 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Departure of the King for the Andalusian Expedition — Having 
passed through Toledo, Madridejos, etc., he arrives at Almagro, 
where he joins Marshal Victor with the First Corps, and where 
military operations are commenced — The army, the centre formed 
by the Fifth Corps and the Reserve, and the right and left wings 
by the First and Fourth Corps, enters the passes of the Sierra- 
Morena, and takes possession of them without great opposition — 
It advances by way of La Carolina, Baylen, and Andujar, and oc- 
cupies Cordova, where the King is well received by the inhabi- 
tants — Description of the principal buildings of Cordova — The 
colonies of Andalusia — On reaching Carmona, the King, instead 
of marching directly on Cadiz to surpris»the Junta there, resolves 
to pass through Seville — He is warmly received by the inhabitants 
of that city, the capital of Andalusia — This gives him confidence, 
and he thanks the army in an emphatic order of the day — Seville, 
its public buildings and its environs — The summons sent to Cadiz 
by the Duke of Belluna having produced no effect, the King 
leaves Seville, and proceeds by way of Utreraand Xeres to Puerto- 
Santa-Maria — Attempts to enter into negotiations with the Junta 
of Cadiz are repulsed, and the necessity of a siege in form is 
recognised — The King, after visiting the town of San Lucar, re- 
turns to Xeres, and thence takes the road for Ronda and Malaga 
— Enthusiasm excited among the people by Joseph's entry into 
the latter town — Antequera and its antiquities — Cueva de Minga 
— The King's entry into Granada— Description of that city and its 
buildings — Jaen and its ancient Cathedral — Return of the King to 
Andujar, and end of the Andalusian expedition 502 



CHAPTER XXX. 

^ews from Paris concerning the Emperor's intentions with re- 
gard to Spain disperse the delusions respecting the King's 
position, to which his journey through Andalusia had given rise 
—An Imperial Decree of February 8, 1810, precedes the dis- 
memberment of Spain by Napoleon — The Author vainly en- 
deavours to persuade Joseph to relinquish the throne of Spain 
— On the occasion of the Emperor's marriage with Marie 
Louise, the King sends the Duke of Santa Fe to Paris, and directs 
him at the same time to negotiate the revocation of the decree 
of February 8 — Having arrived at Andujar, the King, acting 
on the advice of Marshal Soult, decides on returning to Seville — 
He is coldly received — Death of M. de Cabarrus, Minister of Fi- 



xvlii CONTENTS. 



nance — The King returns to Madrid— The Duke of Santa F6 fails 
in his negotiation -The King tries in vain to oppose the severe 
measures of the Fmperor — Ferdinand VII., banished to Valen- 
say, asks for the hand of a niece of the Emperor — Napoleon is not 
unwilling, but the young lady refuses her consent — The King de- 
spatches the Marquis d'Almenara with a kind of ultimatum to his 
brother — Constant encroachments of the French Generals on the 
authority of the King — The Emperor demands the cession of the 
Spanish provinces on the left bank of the Ebro, in exchange for 
r^ortugal— The King declines the propositiqn — The King journeys 
the Guadalaxara — Alcala de Henarez — On returning to Madrid the 
King despatches M. Clary to Paris, bearing a letter to Queen 
Julia, in which he requests her to inform the Emperor that he in- 
tends to leave Spain, unless his position there be altered — Mas- 
sena's expedition to Portugal — Battle of Busaco — Retreat of the 
English to the unassailable passes of the Torres-Vedras — Wretch- 
ed condition of the French army in Portugal — Santa Fe and Al- 
menara return to Madrid — Propositions of the Emperor made 
through the Marquis d'Almenara — They are debated in a private 
council, found to be impossible of execution, and rejected — The 
Author again endeavours to induce the King to leave Spain, or to 
repair to Paris to treat personally with the Emperor ; the King 
cannot make up his mind to this, and continues to temporise 537 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Critical position of the French army in Portugal — Successes of 
Suchet's army in Catalonia — The town of Valencia makes some 
advances towards treating with the King — Message from Queen 
Julia giving the King an account of an official interview with the 
Duke de Cadore — Documents in charge of a French courier are 
seized by the Spaniards and published in their newspapers — Sen- 
sation produced in Spain — The King seems disposed to follow 
the course of action advised by the Author, but soon falls back 
into a slate of irresolution — Reduction of Badajoz — Utter failure 
of the expedition to Portugal, and retreat of Massena — Marshal 
Victor meets with a reverse — Misunderstanding between the 
chiefs of the French Army— Disturbances in Madrid on account 
of the high price of bread — Altercation at the Ministerial Council 
— The King, having resolved on leaving Spain, fixes his departure 
for the 1st of April, iSii — The news of the birth of the King of 
Rome, which reaches Madrid on the 29th of March, delays the ex- 
ecution of this plan — The King at last takes his departure for 
France on the 23d of April — Reflections on Joseph's political 
position — Interview between the two brothers — The Emperor 
promises the King certain concessions — Napoleon sets out for 
Cherbourg, and the King for Morfontaine — Impression produced 
on the Author by the appearance of Paris — The Emperor's reply 
to a deputation of French merchants— Napoleon's unsatisfactory 
reply to his brother's complaints — Baptism of the King of Rome — 
The Emperor's ungracious reception of the Author — After a final 
interview with his brother on the 12th of June, Joseph leaves for 

% 



CONTENTS. XIX 



Spain on the i6th ; the Author decides on accompanying him — 
The King reaches Spain on the 27th of June, and Madrid on the 
15th of July 559 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

rhe military situation — A Committee is formed to prepare the convo- 
cation of the Cortes — Union of Catalonia to the French Empire — 
Imminent rupture between France and Russia — Unfortunate re- 
sult of this with respect to the effective force in Spain — The Eng- 
lish occupy the fortified bridges on the Tagus — Organisation of 
fresh bands of Guerillas — Famine in Madrid — Discouragement 
among the French troops — Valencia surrenders to Marshal Suchet, 
and Ciudad-Rodrigo to the Duke of Wellington— Before setting 
out on his Russian campaign, the Emperor gives instructions for 
regulating the military and political affairs of Spain — The English 
take Badajoz and threaten both North and South at once — Mar- 
shal Soult refuses to obey the King's orders — Marshals Suchet 
and Marmont follow his example — M. Deslandes, the King's pri- 
vate* secretary, is killed while on a journey by the guerillas — Cru- 
elties practised by the guerilla bands — Endeavours to convene the 
Cortes — The English act on the offensive against Marshal Mar- 
mont — The King, at the head of reinforcements drawn from the 
Army of the Centre, goes to the help of the Duke of Ragusa — Be- 
fore he can reach the Marshal, the latter joins battle with the 
English and is defeated and wounded — Disastrous consequences 
of this defeat — The King crosses the Sierra da Guadarrama and 
returns to Madrid 580 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

rhe English army crosses the Sierra of Guadarrama, and occupies 
the plain which surrounds Madrid — The French evacuate the cap- 
ital — The King at the head of the Army of the Centre, preceded 
by an immense convoy, withdraws towards Valencia — Sufferings of 
the troops and of the convoy during the march across La Mancha 
from heat and want of water — They reach the fertile plains of the 
kingdom of Valencia — The King enters the city of Valencia— Ac- 
cusations against the King contained in a despatch from Marshal 
Soult to the Duke of Feltre, which falls accidentally into Joseph's 
hands — Colonel Desprez is sent on a mission to the Emperor — 
Marshal Soult evacuates Andalusia — Conference between Soult 
and the King at Fuente de Higuera, in which it is decided that the 
Armies of the South and of the Centre shall unite with that of 
Portugal — The two first effect their junction at Ocafia— The Eng- 
lish, after failing in their siege of the fortress of Burgos, fall back 
hastily on the Douro and evacuate Madrid — Excesses committed 
by them while retreating — The three Armies of the South, the 
Centre, and Portugal effect their junction at Pena-Aranda — 
Changes made by the King in the command of the army — Lord 
Wellington avoids an encounter and retreats to Portugal — The 
three French armies enter the cantonments assigned them by the 
King 



XX CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Painful impression made on the French in Madrid by the accounts 
received of the Grand Army in Russia — Results of those disasters 
on Spanish affairs — The Army of the South is concentrated on the 
Douro — The King, accompanied by his guard, removes to Valla- 
dolid — The forces under the King's command are reduced by 
more than one third, owing to the recall of a great number of 
subalterns and veteran soldiers to France, and to the detachment 
of a corps commanded by General ClauseL. to act against Mina — 
Lord Wellington appointed generalissimo of all the Spanish ar- 
mies by the Cortes — Evacuation of Madrid — The English general 
commences his operations at the head of 100,000 men, and arrives 
on the Tormes on the 26th ot May — The French fall back on 
Burgos, and are pursued by the enemy — The King orders the 
citadel of Burgos to be blown up, a considerable number of 
French soldiers losing their lives by the explosion — The King's 
army reaches the passes of Pancorvo on the 15th of June — Dis- 
sension in the King's council of war as to whether we shall or 
shall not defend- the defiles— The French fall back on the Ebro — 
The English having crossed the river, the French take to flight, 
and take up a position on the Zadora, before Vittoria, on the 19th 
of June — The opportunity of retreating to the Salinos Pass behind 
Vittoria having been missed, the King is obliged to meet the 
enemy — Position of the army on the morning of the 21st — The 
battle commences, and the French, after an obstinate resistance, 
are forced from their first, and shortly afterwards from their sec- 
ond position — The high road to France being held by the enemy, 
we retreat towards Salvatierra — The English hussars turn our re- 
treat into a rout, and we reach Salvatierra in the evening — We 
continue to retreat, the Army of Portugal forming our rear-guard 
— The King, with the Armies of the South and Centre, reaches 
Pampeluna on the 23d— Having rejoined the Army of Portugal, 
he crosses the Bidassoa on the 2Sth of June, and fixes his head- 
quarters at St. Jean de Luz — The Author is ordered on a mission 
to the Emperor in Germany, and sets out for Vichy, where he in- 
tends to see Queen Julia on his way through — The Queen per- 
suades him not to persist in his journey to Dresden, and retracing 
his steps he joins the King near Bayonne — Joseph establishes 
himself with his suite at the Chateau de Poyanne, but at the expi- 
ration of a week receives permission to reside at Morfontaine, 
where he arrives with the Author on the 30th of July, 1S13 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Objections made by the Police to Joseph's occasional visits to Paris 
— Bernadotte joins the allies against France Curious assemblage 
of persons at Morfontaine -Scnatus-Consultum authorising the 
levy of 280,000 men — Adverse state of public opinion— Leipsic on 
i8th and 19th of October — Progress of disaffection towards the 
Emperor — Arrival of Napoleon at St. Cloud— The King's inter- 
view with the Emperor — Napoleon insists that his brother shall 
abdicate the throne of Spain — Hesitation of the King — The situa- 



CONTENTS. xxi 



tion becomes more difficult — Opening of the Corps Legislatif— 
The Emperor tries in vain to lead public opinion in a favourable 
direction — The King, in a letter to the Emperor, dated 29th of 
December, at last consents to abdicate on certain conditions — His 
letter remains unanswered — On hearing of the summary dissolu- 
tion of the Corps. Legislatif Joseph writes a second time to his 
brother — The Emperor delaying to reply, the King sends the Au- 
thor to Paris to investigate matters — Narrative of the events which 
brought about the dissolution of the Corps Legislatif — Sensation 
produced in Paris and the departments by that measure — Inter- 
views of the Author with the Duke de Vicenza and King Louis — 
Joseph removes to Paris and establishes himself at the Luxem- 
bourg — Third letter from the King to the Emperor, who considers 
it too emphatic— An interview with the Prince of Neuchatei again 
angers the King, who wishes to retire —The Author persuades him 
to confer with his Spanish Ministers — After this conference Joseph 
writes a fourth letter to the Emperor, which is at length approved 
— It is agreed that the King shall bear henceforth the title of King 
Joseph — The Author returns to the Council of State — Treaty of 
Valensgay, restoring the throne of Spain to Ferdinand VII. — Prog- 
ress of the Allied Armies — The Emperor, before placing himself 
at the head of his army, regulates the form of government during 
his absence—Grand audience, to which the officers of the newly 
organised National Guard of Paris are admitted — Napoleon sets 
out on the 25th of January, 18 14 A 641 



CHAPTER XXXVL 

Preliminaries of Peace are proposed by the Plenipotentiaries of the 
Allies — Napoleon, flushed with the military successes obtained in 
February, rejects them — He nevertheless communicates them to 
an Extraordinary Council at Paris, which unanimously advises 
their acceptance — The numerical superiority of the enemy nulli- 
fies the advantages gained by the French — Conspiracy in favour of 
a Provisional Government is organised in Paris by Talleyrand — 
Consternation in Paris at the news of the rupture of negotiations 
at Chatillon — The Emperor throws himself on the rear of the ene- 
my, who nevertheless continues to march on Paris — Measures to 
be taken for the safety of the Empress and the King of Rome are 
discussed in a Council of Regency, which decides that they shall 
leave Paris — Joseph's proclamation of the 2gth of March — The 
Emperor at Troyes on the 28th — The Author refuses the King's 
proposal that he shall leave Paris with the Queen — Reluctance of 
the Queen and the Empress to quit Paris — On the morning of the 
30th the enemy attacks the French positions under the walls of 
Paris— Departure of Queen Julia with her children — We hear of 
the arrival of the Emperor at Fontainebleau with a portion of his 
guard on the 29th — An order from the Grand Judge, Count Mole, 
directs the members of the Senate to rejoin the Empress-Regent, 
the Author leaves on the evening of the 30th and reaches Chartres 
the 31st of March — A cold reception by King Joseph — The Gov- 
ernment of the Regency is established at Blois — Personages com- 
posing it — Uncertainty prevails at Blois with regard to the events 



XXll CONTENTS. 



that had taken place in Paris and at Fontainebleau — On the 7lh of 
April a letter from the Duke of Bassano informs the Regency of 
the abdication of Napoleon — The Author is sent to Paris to obtain 
passports for the members of the family assembled at Blois and 
reaches the capital — DilTiculties in fulfilling his mission — He at 
last obtains the passports, which he sends to King Joseph at Or- 
leans, who is greatly irritated at a clause in them — The Author is 
excluded from the Council of State, goes into retirement, and 
establishes himself and family on an estate near Paris 662 



CHAPTER XXXVn. 

THE HUNDRED DAYS. 

After Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba the Author re-en- 
ters the Council of State — Appearance of the Imperial Court at 
an audience given at the Tuileries — The Author again meets 
Prince Joseph — Declaration of the Council of State respecting the 
dogma of the sovereignty of the people — Addresses of the princi- 
pal tribunals and of the ministers, in favour of there-establishment 
of Imperial authority — State reception at the Tuileries — The Au- 
thor is sent as Commissioner-Extraordinary of the Government 
into the departments composing the 12th Military Division, and 
goes to La Rochelle — Feeling of the inhabitants of the different 
departments which he visits — Difficulties encountered by him — 
Hostile disposition of the inhabitants of a part of La Vendee, and 
especially the town of Nantes — Unfortunate effect produced by 
the publication of the Additional Act — Warm reception given to 
the Author at Poitiers — On his return to Paris, the Author ren- 
ders an account of his mission to the Emperor — Influence of 
Prince Lucien, who has returned to Paris, on affairs — The news 
from Vienna having put an end to all hope of a pacific arrange- 
ment with the Allied Powers, the Emperor has no other chance 
but war — Distrust inspired in the Government by the attitude of 
several general officers, and also by the majority of the nomina- 
tions to the elective Chamber — Solemnity of the Champ de Mai — 
Discourse pronounced on this occasion, in the name of the elec- 
tors, and the Emperor's reply — Solemn opening of the session of 
the Chambers, on the yih June — The Emperor leaves Paris on the 
I2th^ for the northern frontier — Abandoning the army after the 
disaster of Waterloo, he returns to Paris during the night of the 
2olh of June — His abdication, strenuously opposed by Lucien, is 
resolved upon, and sent to the Chambers — The Author hears that 
his son-in-law has been killed, and his son seriously wounded in 
the battle of Waterloo — Dispersion of all the members of Napo- 
leon's family — The Author returns to the country, where the gen- 
erous protection of the Emperor Alexander secures both him and 
his family from injury by the allied troops — Death of the Count's 
son in consequence of his wound — At the end of two years, the 
Author, having sold his country house, returns to Paris, where, 
remote from public affairs, and occupied with literary work, he 
lives in profound retirement 6S5 



MEMOIRS OF 

COUNT MIOT DE MELITO, 



CHAPTER I. 



The author enters upon his career — The training-camp at Saint-Omer — 
Count de Guibert — The effect produced upon the troops by an ill-timed 
attempt to introduce the Prussian system of military organization — The 
camp is abruptly broken up — The changed aspect of the Court of Ver- 
sailles at the close of ihe year 1783 — The various parties at the Court — 
The deputies of the Tiers Etat are ill-received — Opening of the States- 
General — Establishment of the National Guard — The Court forms 
projects hostile to the National Assembly — The banquet of the Body 
Guard — Intention of the Court to leave Versailles — Events of the 5th 
and 6th of October — The King and the Royal Family are taken to 
Paris. 

I WAS "bom at Versailles in 1762, and my parents destined me from 
an early age to be employed in the military administration. With 
the exception of a few excursions, for purposes of instruction, to 
Havre, Metz, Holland, and the Low Countries, I passed my first 
years of youthful manhood in the War Office, in which my father 
was one of the chief clerks. In 1788 I was appointed ** Commis- 
sary of War, ' ' and sent to one of the military divisions which had 
recently been established. This, which used to be called " the 
model division," was commanded by Lieutenant-General the Due 
de Guines. The celebrated Comte de Guibert, the Marquis de 
Lambert, both members of the Council of War formed under the 
Ministry of M. de Brienne, and M. Blanchard, one of the most 
eminent of the ' ' organizing commissaries, ' ' were included in it. 
The general officers of the " model division" were the originators 
of a completely novel system of military administration, which, 
however, found no favour with the troops. Their plan was to train 
the French . army in the Prussian discipline and tactics, and the 



2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

national pride repelled those innovations, which were undoubtedly, 
dangerous at a moment when the public mind was seriously dis-- 
turbed by other proceedings on the part of the Brienne Ministry. 
The effects of the ferment protluced by these combined causes? 
were destined to manifest themselves in the course of Uie ensuing ; 
year. 

^Meanwhile, two training-camps were established ; one at Saint-- 
Omer, under the command of the Prince de Conde, the other at : 
IMetz, under that of Marshal de Broglie. I was employed at the : 
former, which included the troops of. the division in which I. 
ser\'ed. I arrived in September 1788 at the camp, which was sit- • 
uated on a wide heath, at a little distance from the town. About 
30,000 men were assembled there ; among that number were in- 
cluded the Swiss regiments of Salis-Sansade and Diesbach. They 
had already made great progress in the study of the new 
manoeuvres ; and these foreigners, who adapted themselves to the 
novel regime more readily than Frenchmen could, were much ad- 
mired and highly favoured by the admirers of the Prussian disci- 
pline who composed the staff. Being perpetually quoted as an 
example to all the other corps, these regiments excited jealousy 
and aversion rather than emulation, and it may safely be afhrmed 
that the first seeds of the insubordination afterwards exhibited by 
the French army were sown by attempts which were both impru- 
dent and opposed to the national character. 

The discontent excited by these innovations found expression in 
the camp in the usual way, by means of jests and songs directed 
against the "jobbers" (/aiseurs), as they were called, and espe- 
cially against M. de Guibert, who, being much superior in tal- 
ent and administrative ability to his colleagues in the Council of 
War, and therefore supposed to be the most influential member of 
it, was a butt for every epigram. The malcontents went farther 
than epigrams ; conspiracies to insult the Count publicly were 
formed among the young officers ; the manoeuvres directed by 
him were purposely ill-executed, and made to fail ; his tide, and 
even his claim to the status of a gentleman were disputed. In 
short, no means of casting ridicule upon him was left untried, and 
the unworthy manner in which he was treated at the assembly of 
the nobles of his province for the election to the States-General 
was due to the jealousy inspired by his remarkable ability, and the 
decided repugnance with which the changes he had endeavoured 
to introduce were regarded. 

In addition to all this, in spite of the constant occupations and 
the perpetual movement of the camps, men's minds were not un- 
influenced by what was happening just then at Versailles. The 
enterprises of the Brienne ]\Iinistry were the theme of general con- 



THREATENING SYMPTOMS. 



versation ; the resistance of the Parliaments was highly applauded ; 
the conduct of the Court was mercilessly condemned, while its 
scandals were not only exposed but. exaggerated. Count Charles 
de Lameth, Colonel of Cuirassiers, was foremost among the mal- 
contents, and had already made a public profession of the opinions 
which afterward brought him into such notoriety. Grave discus- 
sions on the rights of peoples, and the inevitable necessity of a 
great change, were thus mingled with the sarcasms and epigrams 
which were ceaselessly showered upon the military innovators. 
Certain English officers who had crossed the Channel for the pur- 
pose of witnessing the manoeuvres at the camps, were, on the 
contrary, objects of openly expressed admiration and esteem. 
* * There, ' ' it was said, ' ' are free men ; there are the models 
whom we ought to imitate, and not the machine-soldiers of a 
despot-king!" 

Thus, while the throne, around which clouds were gathering 
heavily, was beginning to totter, its chief prop, the army — which 
ought to have been treated with the utmost consideration — was 
wounded in its tastes, feelings, and habits ; and, revolting against 
a system offensive to it, against an apprenticeship for which the 
French soldier is unfit, did not hesitate to discuss questions of 
high policy, and to take an active part in them. 

This disposition of men's minds could not possibly escape the 
notice of the Prince who was in command of us. The camp was 
broken up, and the troops sent back into garrison : but they took 
thither with them ideas and opinions which had developed them- 
selves amidst the great gathering of which they had formed a part. 
According to observations made at the time, the state of affairs at 
the camp of Metz was almost identical with that at Saint-Omer. 
Only a deplorable degree of blindness, and that thirst for renown 
which beset men impatient to secure the triumph of their own 
hazardous notions, could account for such an act as the massing 
together of troops, for the sole purpose of worrying them, under 
such circumstances. The very moment at which they were shak- 
ing their chains was selected for imposing fresh fetters upon the 
soldiers, for reducing them to the condition of automatons. 
Never was a more foolish deed perpetrated, or one that was fol- 
lowed by results more fatal to those who were guilty of it. 

I returned to Versailles in October 1788. During my absence, 
which had only extended over a few weeks, the aspect of the Court 
had undergone a great change. The respectful silence of the 
courtiers and the attendants, the strict forms of etiquette formerly 
so scrupulously observed, had given place to a freedom of speech 
and a method of expression to which the ears of our princes were 
unaccustomed. A drawing together of the different classes of 



4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

society had become perceptible, the interior of the Palace was 
more easy of access, in short, that sort of familiarity which is estab- 
lished between men by ser/ices requested and promised was mak- 
ing: itself felt. The two Assemblies of the Notables, the failure of 
the plans of Cardinal de Lomenie's Ministry, the positive promise 
of the Convocation of the States-General, the first stirrings of 
sedition which had manifested themselves in Paris, the return of 
i\[. Xccker, and the publications of the day, had produced this 
great change. External customs still existed indeed, but they 
were frequently violated with impunity. In short, the Court, 
such as Louis XIV. had made it, existed no longer : it has not 
re-formed itself since, and probably it never will re-form itself. 

It is not my intention to recapitulate the events which took place 
between the Convocation of the States-General and their meeting. 
I was too far from the councils in which that momentous measure 
was so lightly discussed and so imprudently adopted, to be able to 
throw any light upon such a subject. Besides, several writers have 
handled it more ably than I could do ; I should be obliged either 
to copy them, or to extract fragments from the pamphlets of the 
time, were I to write the history of that epoch after my fashion. 
I\Iy object is not to follow in the track of other writers, but only 
to relate what I have seen, and how I have seen it. I shall there- 
fore confine myself to detailing a few particulars of what happened 
at Versailles from the beginning of 1789, until the 5th of October 
of the same year, that famous and disastrous day which forced 
Louis XVI. to take up his abode at the Tuileries, and to quit the 
sumptuous palace of Versailles, never again to behold it. 

Prior to those times of disturbance and revolution, when the 
Court was the whole State, three principal personages divided it 
among them, and each exercised a more or less decisive influence ; 
the Queen, Monsieur (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and the Comte 
d'Artois (aftenvards Charles X.) ; but the Queen's party had 
always been the strongest The Queen's domination was chiefly 
exercised through her influence over the mind of her husband, a 
man of pure life and good intentions, but whose qualities were in- 
jured by weakness of character and temperament which rendered 
him incapable of forming and adhering to any resolution ; and 
this although he was capable of profound dissimulation, the fruit 
of the evil education which was given to the princes of the House 
of Bourbon, and which was partially the cause of their misfortunes. 

The three powers were seldom agreed. The Comte d'Artois, who 
put no restraint upon his passions, indulged to excess in gambling 
and profligacy. While he was the intimate companion of the 
young men of the Court, who were led by his example, he was at 
the same time duped and robbed by old debauchees, who took 



THE THREE PARTIES AT COURT. 5 

advantage of his inexperience. For the rest, he meddled but httle 
with the administration of affairs or the selection of Ministers, re- 
quiring nothing of the latter except money wherewith to pay his 
debts, which amounted to an enormous sum at the epoch of the 
first Assembly of the Notables. He did not begin to take part in 
public affairs until the beginning of the year 1787, when, by de- 
claring himself against any concession to the ideas of the times, 
and by supporting M. de Calonne, he exhibited opinions and took 
a line entirely contrary to those adopted or followed by his brother. 

Monsieur was a clever man, but he was held to be pedantic. 
He was disliked in the Queen's circle, where he was nicknamed 
* ' Hortensius. ' ' Being repulsed by that clique, which, according 
to him, did not do justice to his merit, he made one for himself, 
more intimate and less restrained, formed relations, and had love 
affairs in which the intellectual rather than the animal side of his 
character was, it was said, engaged. The resentment which he 
cherished against the Queen, and the natural bent of his mind, 
led to his appearing in the Assembly of the Notables as the chief 
of the Liberal party, and to his being regarded as belonging to the 
sect of the philosophers. Henceforth he stood high in the opinion 
of the public, and if he had had sufficient courage and real attach- 
ment to the new ideas to put himself at the head of the movement 
which was then beginning, he would probably have been able to 
prevent some of its excesses. But it seems that he aimed rather at 
rendering himself formidable to the Queen, who had scorned him, 
and turned him into ridicule, than at achieving a more serious sort 
of distinction, and when he had gratified his private revenge, he 
withdrew from the stage on which he had made a brief appearance, 
and hid himself from all observers. 

The Queen's party, composed of a number of amiable and 
clever men and women, but who had no sound importance result- 
ing from superior ability or the eclat of great services rendered to 
the country, held exclusive domination at Court, disposed of all 
patronage, and succumbed, so to speak, under the mere weight of 
favour, wealth, and honours. But, just in proportion as the circle 
which the Queen had formed around herself was calculated to 
secure to her all the enjoyments of intimate friendship in private 
life, and the satisfaction of making those whom she loved happy, 
it was also likely to become fatal to her peace so soon as the eye 
of the public should penetrate it. This was exactly what happened 
at the moment when the imperative needs of the social condition 
of the country turned men's minds towards projects of improve- 
ment, the demand for which became increasingly evident with each 
rent in the veil which covered so much prodigality. When the 
crisis came, the Queen found no one among lier intimates who 



6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

could aid or sustain her. Her friends bad no credit with the out- 
side world ; they enjoyed no public esteem, they were objects 
either of hatred or of envy ; and their own safety being seriously 
menaced, what could they do but escape from the country ? 

They neither could nor would give her any but bad advice, for 
they themselves must have been the first to suffer by wise counsels. 
It was impossible for them to snatch her away from the brink of 
the precipice to which they had led her, and they soon found their 
only resource in flight. 

Such was the aspect of the Court of Versailles when the States- 
General were convoked. Neither good faith nor sincerity had 
dictated this act. Far from seeking to smooth the difliculties as 
to the method of deliberation, which were raised by the excited 
state of public feeling, and the twofold representation granted to 
the Third Estate, those difficulties were increased by the affected 
silence maintained on so material a point. The courtier's last 
hope was that the. obstacles would become so entirely insurmount- 
able as to render the meeting of the States impossible, and for that 
end they all schemed. As a result of this system, the Deputies 
arriving at Versailles — and particularly those of the Third Estate 
— far from being made welcome by the Court, were offended by 
sarcasms and jests from the Queen's circle and that of the Comte 
d'Artois. The language, the manners, even the names of these 
new-comers were turned into ridicule, and the very men who were 
destined to shine soon afterwards by their superior talent and by 
their impressive speeches, and to dictate to the Throne and this 
heedless Court, were at first regarded as provincials whom the fine 
ladies and gentlemen of Paris and Versailles might mystify with 
impunity. An obsolete ceremonial, forms of etiquette that had 
fallen into disuse since greater freedom had penetrated into the 
atmosphere of the Court, were revived, and thus, between the 
other two orders and the Deputies of the Third Estate, a line of 
demarcation, as marked as it was humiliating, was drawn. 

In proportion, however, as their reception by the Court was 
insulting, their welcome in the town was warm and affectionate. 
They were cordially received into the homes of the citizens, where 
many of them had arranged to board, and there they freely ex- 
pressed their resentment and found it shared. Thus, notwith- 
standing the injunctions of the Court, notwithstanding the depend- 
ence upon it of nearly the whole population, the people openly 
declared themselves in favour of the new opinions, and became so 
strongly attached to them that in the end they were absolutely 
hostile to the Court. The sequel has shown that the popular ten- 
dencies were ncjt to be despised. 

It was in the midst of this agitation that the opening of the 



PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 



States-General took place. I was present, as a spectator, at the 
ceremony which preceded it on the previous day. In the long 
procession winding through the wide streets of Versailles, the pub- 
lic remarked with dislike those distinctions of rank and of costume 
which divided into three separate classes the men on whom our 
fate was about to depend, and who ought to have possessed equal 
rights. It was mortifying to see the gold-embroidered cloaks of 
the noble Deputies, the plumes waving on their caps, the episco- 
pal purple proudly displayed by the clergy, while a humble cloak 
of black woollen stuff and a plain round cap, a strange costume 
revived from the feudal ages, marked the Deputies of the Third 
Estate. Nevertheless, their firm demeanor, their steady gait, their 
expression of mingled dissatisfaction and confidence, drew all eyes 
upon them, and they were received with hearty salutations not 
offered to the other orders. There was a crowd of courtiers round 
the Princes, but they passed on amid silence. The King's coun- 
tenance expressed neither emotion nor interest. He advanced, as 
usual, without dignity, and seemed to be merely accomplishing 
some duty of etiquette. Monsieur, who walked with difficulty, 
was serious and thoughtful ; he seemed to be thoroughly im- 
pressed with the importance of the day' s proceedings. The Comte 
d'Artois, casting disdainful glances right and left on the crowd 
lining the streets, showed evident signs of vexation and ill-humor. 
The Queen, with anxious brow and close-shut lips, made vain en- 
deavors to hide her uneasiness and to impart a look of satisfaction 
to her noble and majestic countenance ; but the weight at her 
heart, full of anxiety and bitter thoughts, made her unable to 
maintain it. At length the States-General, which had opened on 
May 5th, began to assemble in earnest. I followed their debates 
with eagerness, and shared in all the agitation of the interval 
between the opening of the States and their transformation into 
the National Assembly. When the re-establishment of the Nation- 
al Guard was decreed, I hastened to enrol myself in the section 
then forming at Versailles. This must have been displeasing to 
the Court, for it was forbidden to any one belonging to it to join 
the new militia, and no one wearing the uniform might present 
himself. And, in fact, I also incurred the blame of the circle in 
which I had moved since my entrance into society, while some 
few persons considered that my action did honor to my courage 
and independence. I deserved, however, neither praise nor blame ; 
for in this I had simply followed the dictates of my conviction. I 
did not remain long in the National Guard, where I fulfilled the 
duties of adjutant. A post confided to me by the Comte de la 
Tour du Pin, the then Minister of War — that of facilitating the 
arrival of provisions in Paris — took me, in the capacity of War 



S MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Commissioner, to Rouen for a month, and obliged me in the first 
inst;\nce to suspend my service in the National Guard. After this, 
the events that took place shortly after my return compelled me to 
resign it altogether, and to leave my native town. 

Before my departure for Normandy I had witnessed all the events 
that took place at Versailles during the three months following the 
opening of the States-General. 1 had been present at the famous 
Royal sitting of June 2^, at the oath of the Tennis Court ; I had 
seen the foreign regiments in the pay of France enter Versailles, 
summoned thither in order to dissolve the States-General ; I had 
seen them marching at night through streets crowded with a silent 
and starded multitude. I had seen the Queen and her circle with 
the Comte d'Artois go to the Orangery, where the foreign troops 
were quartered, applaud their games and dances, share in them, 
and address words of encouragement and praise to the officers and 
even to the private soldiers. The headquarters of Marshal de 
Broglie were at that time established in one of the suites of rooms 
on the ground-floor of the Palace opening on the South Terrace. 
I had seen the aides-de-camp and the officers of the staff come in 
with their reports, and carry away from the very palace of the King 
orders to march on Paris and punish its inhabitants. Artillery 
was despatched from Douai and Metz ; in a word, warlike prep- 
arations, the preludes to sanguinary engagements, were displayed 
on all sides, in places where, ever since the time of Louis XIV. , 
nothing had been heard but the sound of festivity, and the pomp 
of peace and royal magnificence had reigned undisturbed. I had 
also seen how, in an instant, at the first news of the capital in in- 
surrection, and of the taking of the Bastille, terror had succeeded 
to warlike impulse ; how the brilliant staff and the troops brought 
from so great a distance had vanished like shadows, and the silence 
of fear had fallen on the Palace so full of tumult a few days before. 
All this formed a striking picture of the fragility of human designs, 
when they are neither matured by reflection nor sustained by high- 
sou led courage. 

On rallying from the violent shock of July 14, the Court party 
adopted a more tranquil attitude, and seemed for a time to resign 
themselves to their fate. But their conduct had been so false and 
so contradictory, that no approbation was accorded even to this 
resignation ; and as they had lost all external influence, as sus- 
picion rested on even their most indifferent actions, as, in short, 
no one had the least doubt of their bad faith, they had nothing to 
bestow, and their favor was a burden which those with whom they 
sought to ally themselves could not bear. 

Meanwhile the Court had time to breathe, and once more took 
to listening to perfidious counsels and cherishing chimerical hopes. 



THE DISSOLUTION DISCUSSED. 



The Comte d' Artois and the Pohgnacs had indeed gone away, 
but their influence had not departed with them. They had 
reached a foreign country and thus secured their personal safety, 
so they were more than ever urgent in advising violent measures, 
and represented that the help of foreign Powers would as cer- 
tainly be lent in carrying such measures into execution. 

Then once more arose the questions of flight and of the dissolu- 
tion of this formidable National Assembly. In consequence of a 
scheme by which the Municipality of Versailles was induced to 
request the help of some troops of the line in order to secure the 
safety of the town, the regiment of Flanders was summoned thither. 
It was at this time, towards the end of August 1789, that I came 
back from Rouen. The aspect of Versailles was quiet but gloomy. 
The National Assembly were discussing the most important ques- 
tions of social order with equal precipitation and improvidence, to 
the accompaniment of almost universal applause. Threatened — 
and they could not be ignorant of the threat — by the Court, they 
threw themselves entirely on the people, whose passions they flat- 
tered and whose excesses they excused. Thus they laid the foun- 
dations of that formidable power which in a short time was not 
only to rival but to exceed their own. The two parties were drawn 
up opposite to each other, although hostilities had not begun, 
when the Court thought itself strong enough to throw aside the 
mask, or rather, in its impatience, it laid that mask by unwittingly, 
without having made any preparations for acting an openly in- 
imical part. The Court party were skilful in sowing dissension 
among the National Guard at Versailles, they had succeeded in in- 
ducing several who had joined it to abandon the service. They 
distributed white cockades to some young men, who wore them in 
the Palace apartments, and this mark of devotion to the Royal 
cause was rewarded with grateful smiles. The officers of the 
Flanders regiment were loaded with favors ; reciprocal compli- 
mentary attentions had led to friendship among that regiment, the 
Body Guards, and a small minority of the National Guard. The 
Body Guards gave a grand banquet, to which were invited the 
officers of the Flanders regiment, those of the National Guard, 
those of the Household troops who were then stationed at Ver- 
sailles, and also some gentlemen holding high positions at Court 
and in the Government, or posts in the municipality or the law. 
Every one knows that this banquet became an orgy, in which the 
National Cockade was trampled under foot, and that the Court 
party, which should have used its authority to prevent such a scan- 
dalous scene in the palace of the monarch, with inconceivable folly 
actually went to the theatre where the banquet was held, and en- 
dorsed its disgraceful excesses by their presence. Every one 



lO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

knows that the King, accompanied by the Queen carrying the 
Dauphin in her arms, made the tour of the table ; that they 
accepted and proposed toasts, and ended by applauding a sham 
assault made on the Royal box, in which were the King and the 
Royal Family, by guests excited with wine and political passion, 
while a military band played the air — '* O Richard ! 6 mon roi ?" 

I had declined an invitation to the banquet, and during this 
strange scene was walking alone in the gardens of Versailles, when 
I perceived a disorderly crowd rushing towards the windows of the 
Queen's apartment. I drew near, and saw them forming into 
irregular dances, with shouts of " Vive le roi !" " Down with the 
National Assembly !" They continued to indulge in noisy and 
senseless demonstrations during great part of the night I began 
then to suspect from what was taking place outside how matters 
had progressed within, and I felt greatly grieved, foreseeing the 
fatil consequences of the extravagant conduct of that evening. 

Nor were those consequences long delayed. Many external 
symptoms made it evident to the public that the Court was return- 
ing to its former projects ; intending either to dissolve the Assem- 
bly, or to leave Versailles and take up its abode in some stronghold 
on the frontier — the city of Metz being named in particular. 

In order to carry out the execution of either plan, the four com- 
panies of Body Guards, of whose opinions and devotion there 
could be no doubt since the scene of the banquet, had been 
assembled at Versailles. 

The Court flattered itself also that some of the officers of the 
Flanders regiment, and also of the National Guard belonging to 
the town, who had taken part in the fete, would be carried away 
by the example of the Body Guards. Thus did they cherish illu- 
sions, while the ever-growing agitation in Paris, now raised to the 
highest pitch of excitement by the account of the extravagant 
scenes just enacted at Versailles, ought to have roused the Court 
to alarm, and induced it either to give up such ill-concerted 
designs, or to hasten to put them in execution. 

But the King had to make up his mind, and Louis XVI. was 
incapable of coming to a decision. He was as impassive as ever, 
and altered none of his habits. Every day, as usual, he went out 
hunting. He was hunting on October 5, and it was in the woods 
of Rambouillet that a messenger on horseback, despatched at i 
P.M., brought him the news of the movements taking place in 
Paris, and of the march of a mob of ruffians on Versailles. 

I will not attempt to relate here the events of that day and the 
following (October 6) ; I shall merely relate without comment 
what I saw and what I did on those two days. 

At 2 P.M. on October 5 I was informed by one of my comrades, 



THE FIFTH AND SIXTH OF OCTOBER. II 

an officer of the National Guard, of what was taking place in 
Paris. I was not on duty, but I thought it right to put on my 
uniform and hold myself in readiness for a summons. At half- 
past three the drtims beat the general roll-call, and I crossed the 
Place d'Armes, on my way to the headquarters of the National 
Guard, which was at the barracks of the French Guards on the 
right of the Place. As I passed before the outer courtyard of the 
Palace — the gates were closed — the Comte de la Tour du Pin, 
Minister of War, recognised me and called me in. The Court 
was almost filled by the Body Guards, on horseback, drawn up in 
order of battle. * I walked up and down for some time with the 
Minister, who told me that a terrible crisis was at hand ; that they 
were expecting the arrival of a mob of men and women, coming 
from Paris on pretext of asking for bread, but from whom the 
utmost violence was to be apprehended ; that no precautions had 
been taken ; that the King had not yet returned from hunting, 
but that it could not now be long before he came back ; and that in 
the meantime, as a preliminary measure, the Place had been closed 
and the Body Guards ordered to mount. He remarked that I was 
in uniform, and asked me where I was going, and what I intended 
to do. I replied that the general roll-call had been beaten, and 
that I was on my way to headquarters. He approved, and begged 
me not to leave the National Guards now assembling, but to 
unite my efforts with those of the other officers to induce them 
effectually to resist the attack with which the Palace was threatened. 
He added that his son, the Marquis de Gouvernet, who was second 
in command of the Versailles National Guard, of which the Comte 
d'Estaing was Colonel, had just mounted, and would bring us 
orders. 

1 was on the point of taking leave of M. de la Tour du Pin, 
when he begged me to go from him to the Comte de Saint- Priest, 
then Minister of the King's Household,! in order to learn whether 
he had received any further information as to what was occurring 
in Paris, and to propose that they should concert together such 
measures as it was desirable to take. M. de Saint- Priest received 
me rather ungraciously, my uniform was not pleasing to him. 
He seemed to be in a very bad temper, and told me there was 
nothing to be done, all that was happening was the consequence 
of the mistaken conduct of the Court and the weakness of the 
King ; moreover, there was, so far as he knew, only a mob of 
drunken women and poor ragged wretches to deal with — that they 
had no arms, and that the least movement of regular troops 

* The French Guards had left Versailles some weeks before, 
f The Minister of the King's Household included in his department 
Paris and the interior of the kingdom. 



12 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

would easily put them to flight ; but that action would be neces- 
san', and above all no fear must be shown. Finally, he told me 
he would meet the Comte de la Tour du Pin at the Council, 
which was certain to be called immediately on the King's return. 

I carried this reply to M. de la Tour du Pin,* and was not a 
little astonished to find on his staircase a dozen women from Paris. 
The Suisse had allowed them to come in, and they were seated on 
the stairs. They seemed exhausted by fatigue and hunger, and 
had been supplied with food. They told me they had started in 
advance from Paris in order to ask the King for bread, and that 
they were followed by a large number, who were coming on with 
the same intention. While one of them was telling me these 
things, the others were crying out, " Vive le roi ! let him give us 
bread !" The Suisse told them to be silent, and they obeyed. 
The scene was at once piteous and absurd. 

After I had repeated to the Minister what IVI. de Saint- Priest had 
said to me, I resumed my way to the barracks ; but instead of 
going by the Ministers' Courtyard, I crossed what is called the 
Princes' Courtyard, and I perceived the Duke of Orleans at the 
window of the apartments on the ground-floor on the right. He 
was leaning on the ledge of the window, and speaking, with some 
gesticulation, to a person standing in front of him. He was in 
full dress, and wore on his coat the Order of the Holy Ghost. It 
was then about four in the afternoon. 

I went on to the terrace of the Palace facing south, and there I 
found a squadron of the Body Guards on horseback. Finally, 
after making the round of the Palace, I returned to the Place 
d'Armes and reached the barracks of the French Guards. 

The aspect presented at that moment by the Place d'Armes was as 
follows. The Flanders regiment was drawn up in line reaching from 
the left angle of the Palace gate to the Avenue de Paris. Several 
persons, among whom I recognized some Deputies of the National 
Assembly, were walking in front of the troops with the officers of 
the regiment. Part of the population of Versailles had rushed in 
to the Place and filled it, but all was quiet, and there was no per- 
ceptible movement. Opposite the Flanders regiment was the 
National Guard of Versailles in front of the barracks, but within 
the wooden barrier which separates the precincts of the barracks 
from the Place itself. This guard was in small numbers and in 
very bad order. Instead of finding it complete, as I expected, I 
saw that the small number of men who were mustered were out of 
uniform, poorly clothed, and badly armed. None of the men of 

• The four Ministers, Secretaries of Slate, resided in the first Court of 
the Palace, called the Ministers' Court. 



THE NATIONAL GUARD. 1 3 

mark in this militia, whether by fortune or position, showed on 
that occasion ; and those who at reviews or on days of ceremony 
appeared in brilHant uniform and wearing epaulettes, now kept 
themselves shut up within doors. The National Guard under arms 
at the moment — their number did not exceed two hundred — also 
remarked these facts. Their observations were accompanied by 
insulting criticisms and abusive language. I felt that no reliance 
could be placed on men thus ill-disposed, and that far from finding 
in them a force which we might oppose to the dangers with which 
we were threatened, they would lend their aid to disorder. I re- 
mained, nevertheless, at their head, with a few superior officers 
who arrived one by one. 

All, however, continued quiet, and the ill-humor of our men 
was evaporating in more or less abusive talk against their chiefs and 
the Court, when, although the daylight was beginning to fade (it 
was about six in the evening), seven or eight of the King' s carriages 
were seen leaving the great stables situated on the right of the bar- 
racks, and proceeding by the Rue Satory, to the gates of the 
Orangery which open on the high road to Chartres and Brittany. 
At this sight several of the National Guards exclaimed that the 
King certainly intended to go, and that he must be prevented. 
The troop wavered, and, heedless of the remonstrances of their 
officers, about thirty men rushed for\\^ard, and taking short cuts 
through by-streets, reached the gates of the Orangery and closed 
them before the arrival of the carriages, which they forced to return 
the way they came. This unexpected incident destroyed all the 
projects that had been formed at the Palace.'*' The King, who 
could have mounted his horse and placed himself at the head of 
his Body Guard, was disconcerted by a mischance which it would 
have been very easy to foresee, or to repair, by sending a picket of 
guards to the gate, and he again sank into his usual state of in- 
decision, and awaited events. 

The National Guards who had hastened to stop the Royal car- 
riages, returned to barracks more irritated and angry than before, 
and 1 felt certain from their language that nothing would now 
check them ; those who did not share in their feelings having 
taken advantage of the dusk to disappear one by one. Thus there 
remained but fifty or sixty men under arms. It was six o'clock in 
the evening. 

At about the same hour, the gates of the Palace were thrown 

* The carriages were to have received the Court at the foot of the 
Orangery steps, and nothing then could have prevented the flight of the 
King. The road was free, and the Body Guards assembled in the court- 
yard and on the terrace would have supplied a sufficient escort. 



14 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

open, and Body Guards from the courtyard as Avell as those from 
the terrace — their presence being: no longer necessary, since the 
King had given up the thought of departure — began to defile past 
so as to return to their Hotel, in the Avenue des Sceaux. These 
troops, in order to reach the Avenue, had to pass through the 
Place d'Armes, crossing it in front of the French Guards' barracks, 
then occupied by us. On perceiving them, part of the National 
Guard moved forward towards the wooden barrier which, as I 
have said, separated the precincts of the barracks from the Place ; 
the rest remained in front of the building The head of the col- 
umn of Body Guards which were defiling at a trot, four abreast, 
had barely passed the barrier, when I saw a flash of firearms from 
among them. At the same moment, the National Guards, with- 
out waiting for orders, replied by an irregular volley, levelling their 
guns at the Body Guards. The latter instantly set off at a gallop, 
before the shooters, terrified at what they had done, had thought 
of reloading their arms. 

A gloomy silerice succeeded to this momentary tumult. We 
after^vards approached the barrier, but could find no trace either 
of the discharge from the column of the Body Guards, nor of the 
fire from the barracks. Shortly after, M. de Gouvemet arrived 
on horseback ; he ordered us to withdraw all the Guard except 
that part which was on duty. He assured us that the King had 
no intention of leaving Versailles ; that everything was now tran- 
quil ; that the Body Guards and the Flanders regiment had re- 
turned to their quarters ; but that if anything extraordinary should 
happen, the drums were to beat to arms. 

As I was not on duty, I withdrew, and repaired to a house 
where I habitually spent my evenings. I found the company 
much excited by the events of the day, and especially by the shots 
they had heard. Each one explained them according to his 
opinions or passions, some asserting that the National Guard had 
fired first, and others that one of the Body Guard had fired his 
pistol at one of the National Guards who was near the barrier. 
I narrated what I had seen, and as nothing absolutely decisive in 
favor of one opinion or the other could be drawn from my account, 
each individual maintained his own, and even to the present day 
the question remains unsettled. 

On returning home at eleven in the evening, I again passed by 
the barracks. I found only a few men there, but near the barrier 
I remarked a large fire. I approached, and saw, gathered round 
this fire, a group of men armed with pikes, and women of hideous 
aspect. They were busied in cutting up a dead horse, and roast- 
ing the ficsh. I was told that the horse had been found on the 
Place ; it had been probably killed by a shot from the barracks 



THE LAST DAY AT VERSAILLES. 1 5 

when the National Guards had fired. I could learn nothing far- 
ther. 

^^'- 1 had scarcely reached my house when I heard the drums beat- 
ing. On inquiry, I found that the National Guard of Paris was 
approaching, with M. de la Fayette at its head. A grenadier in 
one of the Paris battalions, who was a friend of my father, came 
to see us, and quieted our apprehensions as to the aim of this 
disturbance. He said that the two churches of Versailles had been 
assigned as quarters to the different battalions, but that he had 
preferred asking us for a night's lodging. We made him wel- 
come, and I went to bed. It was then midnight. 

At seven in the morning, October 6, I heard the drums beating. 
I arose in haste, and made my way towards the Palace across the 
gardens. In the courtyards I saw the vanguards of the battalions 
of the Parisian National Guard, which were arriving in good form, 
and falling successively into order. M. de la Fayette was at their 
head. While these troops were advancing and occupying different 
posts, I ascended the marble staircase and entered the interior of 
the Palace, all the intricacies of which I knew perfectly. The 
posts generally occupied by the Body Guard and the Hundred 
Swiss were vacant ; the guard-room and the antechambers leading 
to the Queen's apartment were deserted ; there were stains of 
blood on the floor and on the stairs. The greatest disorder pre- 
vailed ; men clothed in rags and armed with pikes were hurrying 
down the steps which I had ascended ; the doors of the Queen's 
apartment lay open ; not a servant was to be seen, either man or 
woman ; the furniture, including even the Queen's bed, was 
knocked about or moved from its place. From all this it was 
plain that the rooms had been forcibly entered, that the Body 
Guards, no more numerous than usual, had been taken by sur- 
prise, and that, after having defended the entry, they had been 
obliged to yield to force and retreat ; and also that several of them 
had shed their blood in making a hopeless resistance. 
-The King's apartment, on the contrary, was closed. I returned 
by the same way I had come, and then I beheld the National Guard 
of Paris, in the courtyards, in line of battle, with flags flying and 
in perfect order. A crowd of people, and numerous groups of 
men and women, strangers to Versailles, were pressing behind the 
troops, uttering shouts and howls, and brandishing their pikes, on 
some of which were human heads. It was a horrible and revolting 
spectacle ! The furious mob was, however, kept in check by the 
presence of the National Guard, and a portion of it, even, seeing 
there was nothing more for them to do, began to return along the 
road to Paris, whither they bore their bloody trophies. 

Lost in the crowd, and dumb with horror, I was contemplating 



l6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



this fearful scene, when another of a more imposing kind presented 
itself. The windows of the balcony of the King's apartment, look- 
ing on to the inner courtyard, called the Marble Court, were 
thrown open. The King appeared on the balcony, accompanied 
by the Queen, by his children, and by the Princesses.* Their 
appearance wiis saluted by cries of ** Vive le roi ! vive la famille 
royale !" M. de la Fayette and M. Necker stood near the King 
and Queen, and behind them was a group consisting principally 
of Body Guards, disarmed and bareheaded. The King seemed to 
be begging that his faithful servants should be spared, by placing 
them, in some sort, under the protection of the Parisian National 
Guard, and M. de la Fayette was endeavouring to explain the mean- 
ing of the King's gestures. I was at too great a distance to hear 
distinctly the words that were used, but the National Guard replied 
by cries of assent. Then the Body Guards, throwing their sashes 
and white cockades over the balcony, received in exchange tricolor 
cockades and caps belonging to grenadiers of the National Guard. 
They fastened in the cockades and put on the caps. After this 
kind of treaty of peace, confirmed by loud shouts, I heard some 
voices, at first few in number, but afterward becoming more and 
more general, and proceeding from every rank in the National 
Guard, demanding that the King should come to live in Paris. 
At first these cries seemed to receive no attention, but the clamor 
soon became so loud, and was mingled with so many threats, that 
it was impossible to evade a reply. The King and Queen were in 
consultation with M. de la Fayette and M. Necker on the balcony, 
and at last, after a quarter of an hour's indecision, the latter came 
forward — a profound silence prevailed — and I distinctly heard the 
Minister announce that the King consented to proceed to Paris, 
and to take up his abode there for the future. 

M. de la Fayette confirmed this resolution by voice and gesture. 
A transport of joy impossible to depict or to express instantly per- 
vaded the crowd, salvos of musketry were fired, and shouts of 
** Vive le roi !" resounded on every side. When the tumult had 
somewhat subsided, the King retired with his family into the pri- 
vate apartments, and it was announced that the Court would leave 
Versailles at one o'clock in the afternoon. It was then about 9 a. m. 

The National Guard of Paris piled their arms in the courtyards 
of the Palace, and dispersed about the town, while awaiting the 
hour fixed for the King's departure, when they were to resume 
them, and escort the Royal travellers. The greater part of the 
crowd of men armed with pikes had already set out for Paris, fol- 
lowed by some of the women. In the meantime, the National 

* Madame Elisabeth and the aunts of the King. 
% 



THE king's departure. 1 7 

Guard of Versailles was assembling on the Place d' Armes, by order 
of its commanding officers, and I, having put on my uniform, 
hastened to join the ranks. The Guard was to line the way when 
the King passed, and as nothing more than a ceremonial parade 
was in question, there was a numerous muster, and all was in 
good order. 

At about one o' clock the cortege began to move. A strong 
advance guard was formed of several battalions of the National 
Guard of Paris. Tipsy women were seated on the gun-carriages, 
singing and waving aloft boughs which they had torn from the trees. 
But I did not see the heads carried on pikes, of which mention 
has been made in certain narratives. The men who took those 
horrible spoils of a night of crime back to Paris were already far 
away. The King's carriages came next ; they were surrounded 
by several of the Body Guard ; some seated on the box, or on the 
shafts of the coaches, and looking much more as though they had 
sought a refuge there, than as though they were occupying a post 
of defence. A great many of them still wore the grenadiers' caps, 
and all displayed the tricolored cockade. 

As I have already said, we lined the way, and from my position 
in front of the men I could easily observe everything. The King's 
face was quite unchanged, but the countenance of the Queen be- 
trayed agonizing grief, notwithstanding the strong efforts which she 
made to repress the outward signs of her feelings. Monsieur's 
carriage followed that of the King, and the others were occupied 
by persons of the household. There were ten or twelve carriages 
in all. M. de la Fayette was on horseback, now at the side of the 
King's carriage, anon riding forward to give orders. Two ranks 
of National Guards marched in parallel lines with the carriages ; 
the remainder of that numerous body formed the rear-guard. I 
followed this strange procession with my eyes until it reached the 
turn into the Avenue de Paris, where at length it disappeared. 

During the rest of the day I wandered about the deserted gar- 
dens and palace, and through the streets of the town, where the 
silence was broken only by the wheels of the carriages in which the 
Deputies and Ministers, all eager to leave Versailles, were setting 
out for Paris. All night the town was patrolled. This was an un- 
necessary precaution, perfect quiet reigned everywhere. I was at 
the head of one of the patrolling parties, and this was the last turn 
of duty I did with the National Guard of Versailles. Two days 
later I resigned, and set out for Paris, whither I had been sum- 
moned by M. de la Tour du Pin, who was still Minister of War. 



CHAPTER II. 

The loth of August, 1792 — The Author escapes a decree of accusation — 
M. Lacu6e provisional Chief of the War Department — Joseph Servan, 
Minister — The Author ceases to be Chief of Division at the Ministry, 
and enters the Administration of Military Affairs as Comptroller-Gen- 
eral — Servan is succeeded in the Ministry by Pache and Hassenfratz, 
who disorganize its administration — Pache is dismissed, and succeeded 
by Beurnonville — The Author resumes his former post at the Ministry 
— Bouchotte succeeds Beurnonville — The Author is made Secretary- 
General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Deforgues — Sketches 
of some of the leaders of the Terror — Fall of Deforgues, who is suc- 
ceeded at the Foreign Office by a schoolmaster named Buchot — The 
Author, denounced as a " Moderate," is placed under a decree of accu- 
sation, together with MM. Otto, Colchen, and Rcinhart — They are 
saved by the 9th Thermidor — The Author is appointed Commissioner 
of Foreign Affairs — His communications with the Committee of Public 
Safety — Treaties of peace with Tuscany and Prussia. 

I HAD been settled in Paris since October 1789, and I continued 
in the service of the Military Administration which I had entered 
at Versailles. I occupied at first the post of " Chief of the 
Bureau," and afterwards that of " Chief of Division," under the 
different Ministers who succeeded each other at the War Depart- 
ment up to August 10, 1792. 

I was included at this period in the proscription which fell upon 
a great number of Government employes, and I was to have been 
arrested and thrown into prison, where I should probably have 
been one of the victims of the massacres of the 2d of September. 
But, fortunately as it turned out, I was anxious about the health 
of my wife and daughter, then at Versailles, and on the very morn- 
ing of the loth of August I had left Paris by the Clichy Gate, and 
had made my way to Versailles, across the plain of Sablons, the 
Bois de Boulogne, St Cloud, and the woods above the ancient 
palace of our Kings, the pathways of which were perfectly familiar 
to me. During my progress, the noise of cannon and musket- 
shots in Paris caused me terrible anguish of mind ; but I only 
hastened the more quickly on my way, and reached Versailles 
about noon, trembling with apprehension, ignorant of what had 
taken place in Paris, and unable to reply to any of the questions 
put to me. In the evening the details of that terrible day became 



CHANGES IN THE WAR OFFICE. 1 9 

known. I concealed myself carefully on the morrow, fearing to 
be arrested as non-domiciled, and on the succeeding day (August 
12) I took my place in one of the little carriages that for some time 
had been running between Versailles and Paris. We passed with- 
out difficulty through the gates, which were closed against all who 
wanted to leave the city, but freely open to all in-comers. On 
reaching my father's house I found that a warrant for my arrest 
had been issued, and that a search had been made for me, in order 
that it might be put in force. I also heard that my brother-in- 
law, M. Arcambal, Commissioner-Director of War and Secretar}'- 
General of the Ministry, and my uncle, M. Vauchelle, chief Clerk 
of Artillery, had already been arrested. After acquainting me 
with this sad news, my father added that he had stated that he did 
not know where I was, but that I might be heard of at the resi- 
dence of the War Minister. 

Thereupon I quickly decided on my course of action, which 
was to proceed to the War Office. I learnt there from my fellow- 
clerks that emissaries of the Commune had in fact come on the 
previous day to arrest me ; that, not finding me, they had left one 
of their number behind to seize me on my return, and enforce the 
warrant against me, but that the individual, wear}^ of waiting to no 
purpose, had departed, and had not since reappeared. The Leg- 
islative Assembly had appointed M. Lacuee, one of its members, 
to administer the department until the arrival of the new Minister 
of War. I thought it right to wait upon him, and found him, 
wearing a tricolor sash, and installed in the Minister's cabinet. 
I told him that I presented myself, in order that he might not sus- 
pect me of trying to escape the search now being made for me. 
He received me politely, said he had no orders to take any steps 
against me, but that, on the contrary, he requested me to return to 
my work, and to assist him in the difficult position in which he 
found himself. He complained of the excesses of the Commune 
in Paris, which had disorganized every official department by its 
arbitrary arrests ; and in fact he was equally indignant at the acts 
of that seditious authority as he was powerless to repress them. 

I therefore resumed my usual occupations, expecting every in- 
stant to be arrested at my desk. But I was not arrested ; either 
it was believed that the warrant had already been executed, or I 
was forgotten ; at all events, I remained at liberty. I even had 
the very great happiness of saving one of our friends, M. Jullien, 
who took refuge in my house, and of aiding with him in the re- 
lease of my uncle and my brother-in-law, whom I have mentioned 
above, and who were, marvellous to relate, set at liberty a few da3's 
before the 2d of September. 

Meanwhile the Legislative Assembly had appointed Joseph Servan 



20 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Minister of War. He was brother to the celebrated Advocate- 
General of the same name, and had already occupied that post, to 
^vllich he liad been appointed by the King. He had connected 
himself with the now triumphant (iirondist party, and sent in his 
resis^nation some months previously. The Assembly had solemnly 
declared that on quitting his post he carried with him the regrets 
of France. During his first tenure of office I had frequently been 
brought into contact with him ; he was acquainted with my opin- 
ions and knew that I did not share his. In fact, although I oc- 
cupied a somewhat obscure position, I had not been permitted to 
conceal my opinions ; and I was naturally opposed to any dis- 
guise of the kind. I was — and he knew it — what was called at that 
time a Constitutional Monarchist, a ^Moderate, a "feuillant. " I 
belonged to the club so-called, although my dislike of assemblies 
of that kind generally kept me away from it All these circum- 
stances being known to M. Servan, he could not feel confidence 
in me ; and although my thorough acquaintance with the details 
of the Ministry rendered me useful, he felt that by retaining me 
he might incur censure, and would expose himself to danger witli- 
out being able to protect me. Nevertheless he received me with 
some cordialitv, after his appointment to the War Office by the 
Assembly ; but as my views of my position there were the same as 
his, we soon agreed to separate. He accepted my resignation of 
the post of Chief of Division — I sent it in on the pretext of ill- 
health — and placed me as Comptroller-General in the Administra- 
tion of Military Affairs, a position little known and quite obscure, 
where I hoped to be out of the reach of investigation. But it was 
fated otherwise. The National Convention had just met, and the 
Girondists who had placed Servan at the head of the War Office, 
having lost by degrees the powerful influence they had exercised 
over the Legislative Assembly, Servan was attacked, dismissed, and 
replaced (October 4th, 1792) by Pache, a creature of the Com- 
munist party. On the arrival of the new Minister, the whole War- 
Administration was upset. Every man of intelligence or experi- 
ence \vas dismissed, and Hassenfratz, placed by Pache at the head 
of one of the most important divisions of the department, raised-' 
confusion to its highest pitch ; he persecuted all the former em- 
ployes by his denunciations, and treated them with the severity in- 
spired by instinctive ill-will, disguised under the hypocritical mask 
of enthusiastic republicanism. Nor was I to escape : in the month 
of December there was some thought of entrusting me with a mis- 
sion connected with the administration to which I belonged : he 
refused me my passports and the necessary orders, expressing sur- 
prise that my name had been left on the list of employes in his de- 
partment. This expression of opinion on the part of a man who > 



BEURNONVILLE, 21 

vas at that time all-powerful, was equivalent to a sentence of death, 
md doubtless I should have perished had my persecutor had time 
o carry his evil intentions into execution. 

At this critical moment of my fate Pache himself was violently 
attacked by Dumouriez. The latter had just entered Belgium 
iter his brilliant victory at Jemappes, and could not carry on the 
v^ar with a Minister ^vho was disorganizing everything. He had 
;-reat influence in the Convention ; prevailed over the Commune, 
.nd carried the dismissal of Pache early in February 1793. Pache 
vas succeeded by Beurnonville, who had served with distinction 
n the Belgian campaign, and was nicknamed by Dumouriez ' ' the 
^•ench Ajax" ! 

Beurnonville, on coming into office, sent for me and offered to 
estore me to my former post. Since the time when d' Hassenfratz 
lad declared war against me, and during the trial of Louis XVI. , 
. had frequently absented myself from Paris, to avoid the dangers 
hat threatened myself, also the sight of the terrible tragedy then 
mpending, of that sanguinary execution which shortly afterwards 
)olluted the capital of France ; but I had not relinquished my 
labitual residence. I was there when Beurnonville' s propositions 
vere made to me. I acceded to them, and re-entered the War 
Office. 

Under the new Minister the Administration began to work more 
regularly, and to emerge from the lethargy into which Pache and 
iassenfratz had plunged it. But this state of things did not last 
ong. The reverses experienced by the French army, and which 
n the early part of 1793 forced us to evacuate Belgium ; the de- 
ection of Dumouriez ; the internal discord in the Convention, a 
tormy prelude to the Reign of Terror that followed the execution 
)f Louis XVL and which was now developing itself ; these were 
mong the causes that combined to efface every trace of a short- 
ived improvement. Beurnonville, who was sent with Camus, 
jruinette, Lamarque, and Bancal, Commissioners of the Conven- 
ion, to arrest Dumouriez, wished to take me with him, as he was 
'ery friendly to me. I had agreed to go, when fortunately the 
lecessity for retaining a confidential person in the War Depart- 
nent, in which Beurnonville intended to resume his post after a 
hort absence, led him to decide on leaving me in Paris. We 
:now the fate that awaited him ; and I should no doubt have 
ihared his long imprisonment. 

When, in April 1793, Beurnonville was aiTested by order of 
Dumouriez, together with the Commissioners of the Convention, 
ind the post ot War Minister became vacant, the Convention 
ippointed Bouchotte to succeed him. Bouchotte was Com- 
mandant of Arms at Cambrai, and had hitherto been undistin- 



22 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

guislicd in the military career on which he had barely entered.! 
It was only the favour of the Paris Commune that had placed him 
among the candidates. The Commune hoped to find in him a 
second Pache, and in some respects were not disappointed. The 
devotion of the new Minister to this odious faction was unques-i 
tionable ; he gave frequent proofs of it. Nevertheless, under a: 
plain exterior, with foolish ways, and a bearing which ofteni 
caused him to be wrongfully accused of total incapacity, Bou4 
chotte had talents and qualities for administration, an upright 
mind, and the capacity for steady application to business. He 
even displayed great activity, which seemed at variance with his 
physical organisation. It was while he was Minister that the gar- 
rison of Mayence was removed to La Vendee, and this strangt 
enterprise, the management of which devolved upon me, was car- 
ried through with remarkable precision. At this period, too, the 
telegraph, an invention which rendered great service to military 
correspondence, came into use.* Notwithstanding the severity; 
exercised in those deplorable days towards so many general officers 
whose lives were taken by the Convention, I had opportunities of 
observing that Bouchotte was altogether opposed to these con- 
demnations, and that he saved the lives of many persons who do. 
not know they are under any such obligation to him. Among i 
others, I may name General Canclaux. 

When a man appointed by the Paris Commune made his ap- 
pearance at the Ministry of War, I believed myself irrecoverably 
lost, and I confidently expected the reappearance of all the officials 
who had been formerly employed by Pache, such as Hassenfratz, 
Sijas and others, who had withdrawn with their chief. But, to 
my great surprise, Bouchotte did not reinstate them. He even 
insisted on retaining me, treated me with the fullest confidence in 
everything regarding the affairs of the Administration, neither in- 
quired into my political opinions, alluded on any occasion to his 
own, nor solicited me to embrace them, although I worked with 
him many hours daily. Nevertheless, I felt my position to be 
one of constant constraint. A reverse to our troops, an act of 
forgetfulness or of negligence, anything that should give room for 
the most trivial denunciation, might bring irretrievable ruin upon 
me, and I ardently longed to escape from so critical a position. 

* M. Chappe, the inventor (or supposed to be so) of the telegraph, 
came to me at the War Office. David, the famous painter, introduced: 
him, Chappe explained to me the method of using his irtachine, to whirhl 
he gave the name of tachygraphe (" writes quickly"). I proposed to him; 
to substitute for this imperfect description that of Uliri^nip/u (" writes froim 
afar"). He adopted this alteration. The name " telegraph" has be- 
come, so to speak, a household word. 



A NEW ERA. 23 



I saw that I owed the consideration with which I was treated 
solely to the necessity that existed for making use of my experience 
in the Administration, and that so soon as that necessity should 
subside, I should be left alone and without a protector to repel 
the attacks upon me that would inevitably be renewed. I was 
convinced that the Minister would not willingly dismiss, nor 
would he denounce me, but I was also aware that he had some 
difficulty in maintaining his own position, and that, as he was 
obliged to purchase by continual concessions such protection as 
was afforded him by the party which had placed him in office, he 
would be unable to defend me, and certainly would not for my 
sake put his own popularity in peril. While I was in this state of 
perplexity, an opportunity of leaving my perilous post offered 
itself, and I eagerly embraced it. Several assistants had been ap- 
pointed to the War Ministry. One of these, named Deforgues, 
with whom I had been brought into constant contact, was ap- 
pointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, on June 24th, 1793. He 
proposed that I should change into that department with him, 
and take the place of Secretary-General. I accepted. Bouchotte 
was with difficulty induced to part with me, but eventually he 
consented. I therefore relinquished at this time the career I had 
adopted in my youth, but resumed it, as will appear in the course 
of my narrative, just after the i8th Brumaire, year VIII. 

A new era had now begun for me. This change in my career 
eventually called me to high functions in the public Administra- 
tion, when, after the Reign of Terror, a regular Government was 
formed in France. 

My first experiences in the new course on which I was entering 
justified the decision I had taken, and realised some of my ex- 
pectations. I had calculated that, foreign relations with PVance 
being for the present almost at an end, I should be less exposed to 
remarks in a department which had next to nothing to do than in 
the War Office, which at that time was the centre of attention ; 
and that Deforgues, who, on attaining to the Ministry, had called 
me to his side in consequence of the events of May 31st, and who 
was a man of a firm and decided character, would be a more sub- 
stantial support to me. It was also with great inward satisfaction 
that I found myself in an Administration where I should have to 
work with men of high intelligence as well as of honourable char- 
acter, such men as MM. Otto, Colchen, Reinhart and Boissonade, 
who were at the head of the principal divisions of the Ministry. 
The mere difference in speech seemed to me an inestimable ad- 
vantage ; to the coarse, rough ways adopted in the War Office, 
succeeded politeness and elegance of manner, the result of a gen- 
tlemanly education and the habit of association with foreigners. I 



24 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

found traces of the former customs of the monarchy still existing 
in this department. Far from seeking to efface them, Deforgues, 
who, notwithstanding the j)arty he had joined, had natural good 
sense and sound judgment, seemed to take pleasure in them, and 
to desire a restoration of order, decorum, and urbanity. 

In this way, with less personal danger than I had hitherto in- 
curred in the terrible storm then devastating France, I passed 
through the six months which elapsed between June 1793 and the 
end of the year. During that period I had several opportunities 
of seeing Danton, the patron of Deforgues, at whose house he fre- 
quently dined. I was often invited, as were also my colleagues, 
Otto and Colchen. These dinner-parties often included Lacroix, 
Legendre, Fabre d' Eglantine, Camille Desmoulins, and less often 
Robespierre, whom, indeed, I met but once. 

I will pause here for an instant, and endeavour to describe the 
impression which was produced on me by the appearance and con- 
versation of those famous and criminal Revolutionists, whom I 
saw for a few moments, as it were, in their private life, and away 
from the bloody stage on which they daily displayed their fur)'. 
My colleagues and I had our places at the end of the table, and 
took no part in the conversation ; we were mere observers, and it 
is the result of my obsen-ations that I am now about to record. 

Danton, the most remarkable of all the personages whom I have 
named, had a hideous face. His proportions were athletic ; in 
that respect he was even thought to resemble Mirabeau. But the 
complexion of the latter was of a livid pallor, while that of Danton 
was of a reddish-brown, and his countenance was very animated. 
The tone of his voice was impressive, he spoke with warmth and 
energy that appeared natural to him. His elocution was fiery, 
and always accompanied by violent gesticulations ; at table he 
generally struck the key-note of the conversation, and made fre- 
quent use of figurative expressions — " The chariot-wheels of the 
Revolution will crush its enemies." '* The Revolution is like 
Saturn ; it will devour its children" — and other phrases of the same 
kind. }ie felt profound contempt for the Girondists, regarding 
them as fools who had recoiled before the logical results of their 
principles. He made no secret of his love of pleasure and of 
money, and sneered at vain scruples of conscience and delicacy. 
Intrenched in the club of the Cordeliers, which he looked upon 
as a citadel always open to him, he believed himself to be unassail- 
able. The cynicism of his morals exhibited itself in his language, 
for he despised the hypocrisy of some of his colleagues, and his 
sarcasms on this vice were principally directed against Robes- 
pierre ; whom, however, he did not venture to name. Never- 
theless it was easily to be seen that Robespierre was the enemy 



FABRE D EGLANTINE. 2$ 

|whom he most dreaded, although he affected to despise his party. 
" They would not dare," he often said, and this rash confidence 
wras his ruin. He thought himself sufficiently strong to leave Paris 
in the spring of 1794 with impunity, for the purpose of passing a 
few days on an estate he had acquired at Bar-sur-Aube, He gave 
himself up when there to the enjoyment of the luxury he had 
procured by his extortions in Belgium, and thus absented himself 
jfrom the battle-field. On his return he had lost his influence, and 
Robespierre, all powerful at the time, sent him to the scaffold. 

Lacroix, a friend of Danton's and his colleague in his mission 
to Belgium, where they both enriched themselves, was of gigantic 
stature, but of fine proportions, and was a handsome man. He 
lad taken Danton for his model, imitated his manners, and re- 
:)eated or paraphrased his speeches. The whole of his oratorical 
talent lay in this imitation. He spoke little, ate a great deal, and 
applauded the sayings of his master by gesture only. He fol- 
lowed him to the scaffold. 

Fabre d' Eglantine's manner of talking was graceful, but 
affected. Notwithstanding his efforts to conform to the Revolu- 
tioiaary style of speech, it was evidently antipathetic to him, and 
the ring of a refined education was heard through a coarse ex- 
terior. When the conversation turned, as rarely happened, on 
literary subjects, he eagerly joined in it, and displayed great ac- 
quirements. He was an admirer of Moliere, and spoke of him 
enthusiastically. I have heard him make remarks on the works of 
that great genius which were as striking as they were novel. I 
remember that, when descanting one day on the merits of the 
*' Bourgeois Gentilhomme, " he said : " It is a great mistake to 
think in this play that Moliere intended to insult the middle 
classes. He aimed it at the nobility, and was merciless. He cer- 
tainly holds up to ridicule the folly of a bourgeois who wants to pass 
for a nobleman ; but M. Jourdain, with all his folly, is none the 
less a very upright man ; a good husband, a good father, a 
generous and practical friend. The rogue, in the play, is the 
gentleman, Dorante, who is both a flatterer and a cheat. He is a 
wretch, who desei*ves only our contempt. All Moliere' s talent 
was needed to mislead as to his real meaning, and at the same 
time it required immense courage thus to exhibit the vices of court- 
iers on the stage, under the very eyes of the Court." This view 
of Moliere' s genius reveals discernment in the critic, and Fabre 
d' Eglantine has proved by his own writings for the stage that he 
could appreciate and successfully imitate him whom he had taken 
for his model. He was indicted as an accomplice of Danton, and 
perished with him. 

Legendre, a Paris butcher, was of small stature, and deeply 



26 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

pitted with small-pox. He spoke with the greatest facility. Gifted 
by nature with extraordinary but quite uncultivated eloquence, his ; 
speeches in j)ublic, his conversation in private, were full of original 
and happy turns. He was an ardent patriot, and fell into the 
greatest revolutionary excesses, but there is no doubt that he acted 
in good faith and sincerity, following the impulses of a passionate 
but misguided love of liberty, and a mind never restrained by the 
curb of reason or reflection. I often admired this man when, on 
leaving the Convention where he had supportecj the most blood- 
thirsty proceedings, he would return to private life, and talk to us 
of its charms with an accent of truth impossible to simulate. He 
would speak of his own domestic happiness, of his wife and chil- 
dren, in the tone of the best of husbands and fathers, sometimes ' 
betraying his emotion by the tears that stood in his eyes. He was 
an incomprehensible mixture of political ferocity and social virtues, 
proving that man, with his strange mobility of imagination, can 
unite in himself the most wondrous contradictions. He was a 
partisan of Danton, whom he regarded, he said, as the Hercules 
of the Revolution, and was never weary of praising him when 
speaking of his talents in a public capacity ; but he blamed him 
openly for his manner of life, and for his luxurious tastes, and 
never joined in any of his disgraceful speculations. Animated 
discussions on this subject would frequently arise between them ; 
and although Danton always turned the matter into a jest, and 
pretended to laugh at the preaching of his colleague, Legendre 
never yielded, and it was evident that his words pierced to the 
quick. Lastly, this remarkable and singularly-organised man had 
succeeded in inspiring such a general respect that, notwithstandmg 
his openly-avowed attachment to Danton, Saint-Just did not ven- 
ture to include him m the indictment of the latter. And although 
even after the death of Danton, Legendre continued to defend 
him, he was never proscribed, but was in a position to attack 
Robespierre on the 9th Thermidor, and to contribute to his fall. 
He was therefore an exception, and although one of the most en- 
thusiastic members of the Convention, he escaped almost alone 
from the fate which the fiery revolutionists of that terrible time had 
to endure. After the establishment of the Constitution of Year 
in. he was elected m^^mber of the Council of Former Members 
(Conseil des Anciens), and died in his bed, at Paris, at the be- 
ginning of year VL (end of 1797), being still a member of the 
Council, and leaving no fortune behind him. 

Camille Desmoulins was also among the number of those who 
dined pretty frequently at Deforgues'. His personal appearance 
was commonplace, he had no external advantages, nor did his 
conversation belie the grudging hand with which Nature had en- 



CAMILLE DESMOULINS AND ROBESPIERRE. 2/ 

dowed him. Gloomy and silent, his countenance wore an ex- 
pression of profound melancholy, and it was difficult to recognise 
the orator of the early days of the Revolution of 1789, the orator 
who, standing on a chair at the Palais Royal, had by his stirring 
speech produced the great popular movement of that famous 
period. At the time when I was in the habit of seeing him, he 
was horror-struck at the terrible scenes which passed before his 
eyes every day, and was endeavouring to arouse a spirit of 
humanity. In several numbers of a newspaper entitled " Le Vieux 
Cordelier, ' ' which was edited by him, he ventured (for it was then 
an act of the greatest courage) to advocate a return to clemency. 
Danton laughed at him for what he chose to call his weakness, 
but Camille Desmoulins, who was also excluded by each so-called 
patriotic society for having advocated these new doctrines, made no 
reply. His gloom announced that he already foresaw the fate 
awaiting him, and the few words that he uttered were always in- 
quiries or observations on the sentences of the Revolutionary Tri- 
bunal, on the kind of death inflicted on the condemned, and on 
the most dignified and decorous way of preparing for and enduring 
it. His presentiment was soon realised. He was included by 
Saint-Just in the indictment of Danton and his party, although no 
appearance even of complicity justified that strange combination, 
and he was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal. He was 
astonished, he says, to find himself associated with rogues, and 
made a strange and impious reply, but one which is characteristic 
of the times, * to the interrogatory of the President, who asked him 
his age. He went to the scaffold in the same tumbril with Danton. 
I have still to speak of Robespierre. I saw him, as I have 
already said, once only. Elegant in dress, carefully curled and 
powdered, composed in manner, he formed the most curious con- 
trast with the disorder, affected neglect, and coarseness that ap- 
peared in the attire and manners of his colleagues. His deport- 
ment was grave, and he took hardly any part in the conversation, 
speaking only now and then a few sententious words. But not- 
withstanding the immobility of his pale and sinister countenance, 
it was evident that he did not feel at his ease, and I learned after- 
wards that he owed a grudge to Deforgues for having thrown him 
into the company of men whom he pretended to regard as very 
uncertain patriots, or what was still more criminal in his eyes, 
as *' Moderates." Thus the conversation at dinner was con- 
strained. I also thought I could perceive by the few words uttered 
by Robespierre that he especially desired to be distinguished as a 

* Camille Desmoulins replied : "" I am of the age of that good sans- 
culotte Jesus — thirty-three years. " 



28 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

great statesman. He spoke of the foreign relations of France, of 
the necessity of extending them, and of making a fresh alHance with 
Switzerland. He hud already made some enquiries in the Foreign 
Department on the latter subject, and I recollect that ISI. Colchen, 
who was at the head of the division of the Ministry which includes 
the Swiss Confederation, received with no little alarm an invitation 
to a conference at the Minister's at which Robespierre was to be 
present I recall this anecdote only to show that even at this period 
Robespierre flattered himself he might become the head of the 
(iovernment, and that his ambition was to acquire the reputation 
of a statesman and great politician. 

After this digression, I resume the thread of my narrative. But 
before continuing, I would remark that the beginning of the Re- 
publican Era having been fixed at September 22, 1792, the second 
year of the Republic commenced on September 22, 1793, ^^^> 
tlating from that period, the use of the Milgar era was interdicted.* 
Therefore all dates that I shall mention will be according to the 
New Era, and I shall merely indicate the years of the Old Calendar 
to which they refer. I shall follow this plan until January i, 
1806, when the Republican Era was abolished and the use of the 
Gregorian Calendar restored. 

I passed the remainder of the year 1793 (the early part of year 
H.) in discharging the duties of Secretary-General at the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, and I took advantage of the frequent leisure 
which my post afforded, at a time when we had scarcely any deal- 
ings with Foreign Powers, to examine the archives of my depart- 
ment, and to extract from them knowledge of a kind which up to 
that time I had had no opportunity of acquiring. This period of 
tranquillity, which I owed to my obscure position, did not last 
long. Danton, accused on Germinal 12, year H. (April i, 1794) 
by the Committee of Public Safety, of which Saint- Just was the 
reporter, had been arrested on the preceding day. Being brought 
five days later before the Revolutionary IVibunal, his head fell on 
the scaffold (Germinal 16). The fall of Danton was soon followed 
by that of Deforgues. He was arrested, and until the Commis- 
sions which were to take the place of the Executive Council, and 
that of the Ministers who had been suppressed by a decree of Ger- 
minal 12 .should be established, the Convention appointed Her- 
mann to succeed him. 'I'hat provisional Minister did not, how- 
ever, appear at the Office of Foreign Affairs ; the new Commis- 

* As ihe New Calendar w.is not decreed until several weeks after Sep- 
tember 22, 1793, the " Monileur," couniijig from October 16 of that year, 
is dated the second month of the Republic, and only from October 31 by 
the new names of the months. The first of these new dates, Decadi, 
Brumaire, year II., heads the *' Moniteur" of October 31, 1793. 



BUCHOT. 29 

sioners were appointed soon after (Germinal 29, year 11. , April 

18, 1794). 

The "Commissioner of Exterior Relations," a denommation 
substituted for that of Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived to take 
possession of that department. This Commissioner's name was 
Buchot. He came from the Department of the Jura, where he 
had been a schoolmaster in a small town. His ignorance, his bad 
manners, his stupidity surpassed anything that can be imagined. 
During five months that he was at the head of the department, he 
did not occupy himself with it in the least, and indeed was incapa- 
ble of so doing. The heads of divisions had abandoned the idea 
of working with him ; he neither saw them, nor asked for them ; 
he was never to be found in his Cabinet, and when it was abso- 
lutely necessary to obtain his signature for the purpose of legalis- 
ing documents— he had reduced his functions to this act alone — 
he had to be fetched from the billiard-table at the Cafe Hardy, 
where he generally passed his days. On the other hand, apathetic 
as he was in business, Buchot was fatally active when called upon 
to second the bloodthirstiness of Robespierre's party, who had 
appointed him because he was a friend of the President of the 
Revolutionary Tribunal ; and it was not long before the effects of 
the hatred he bore to my colleagues and to me became apparent. 
When Robespierre, threatened by a section of the Convention, 
multiplied the number of victims whom he sacrificed each day in 
order to diminish the number of his enemies, Buchot denounced 
us as " Moderates," who could not too quickly be got rid of. 
On 8th Thermidor, year H. (July z"], 1794), he obtained a war- 
rant for the arrest of Otto, Colchen, Reinhart, and myself, from 
the Committee of General Safety. The next morning, Buchot, 
with a devilish smile, announced our fate to me, and went out to 
defend Robespierre's interests at the Commune. But it was the 
9th Thermidor ! We were saved, although on the following day, 
notwithstanding the events of the 9th, an attempt was made to 
enforce the warrant of arrest. This decree, with a great many 
others of the same kind, had passed in due course through the 
office of the Committee of General Safety, which had proceeded 
to carry it out. In fact it was only through the solicitations of M. 
Humbert, the chief of the Finance Department of our office, that 
we obtained the revocation of the sentence, and, free from fear, 
could share in the universal joy displayed throughout Paris when 
the fall of the monsters who had enslaved France and drenched her 
in blood became known. M. Otto only, in consequence of a fur- 
ther denunciation, was arrested a few weeks after. * 

* M. Otto was taken to the Luxembourg Prison, but he remained there 
only a short time, and the suspicions which had led to this act of severity 



30 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



For some months after the 9th Thermidor, the National Con- 
vention, engaged in destroying the remnant of a party whose head 
only had been wounded, did not set about re-establishing order in 
the public administration. The Commissioners who had succeeded 
the Ministers continued to occupy their places, and we beheld the 
reappearance of Buchot ! He was somewhat humbler and less 
formidable, but no less incapable. At the end of year II. (Sep- 
tember 1794) the offices of the Ministry of Exterior Relations were 
removed from Rue Cerutti (now Rue Lafitte), where they had been j 
established, to the Hotel Gallifet in the Rue du Bac. 1 

At last, the Committee of Public Safety of the National Conven- 
tion which held the reins of Government, was brought by the force 
of circumstances to ideas of order, and felt the necessity for a 
reform of the public administration, which was completely dis- 
organized by revolutionary excesses, by the internal divisions of 
the Assembly, and by the incapacity of the lately-appointed 
officials. The Government, anxious to assume a more dignified 
attitude towards the European Powers, showed a disposition to 
listen to the overtures of peace, which the astonishing victories of 
the French army had induced some of the Foreign Cabinets to 
make privately. In this new phase of the public mind it was im- 
possible to leave the Commission of Exterior Relations in the 
abject and absurd state to which its ridiculous chief had allowed it 
to sink. MM. Otto, Colchen, Reinhart and myself, were there- 
upon summoned before the Committee of Public Safety early in 
Brumaire, year III. Four members of the Committee had been 
ordered to hold a conference with each of us, in which we were to 
pass a kind of examination. Merlin (of Douai), Cambaceres, 
Thuriot and another, whose name I do not recollect, had been 
selected. I fell to the share of Thuriot. 

He put questions to me as to my antecedents, asked me whether I 
had passed through a regular course of study, and knew Latin, and 
he appeared pleased when I told him I was acquainted with that 
language, and that I had also learned some others, viz. Italian, 
English and German. After this interrogatory, which lasted half 
an hour, he informed me that the Committee of Public Safety 
intended to propose to the Convention that the " Department of 
Exterior Relations" should be so organized as to enable it to carry 
on certain political negotiations which had been already opened, 

were quickly dispelled. Deforgues, who was much attached to him, was 
released from the same prison after the 9th Thermidor. He worked with 
the greatest zeal to obtain the liberty of his companion in misfortune. I 
was luckily able to assist him in his efforts, and we succeeded in procur- 
ing an order of release from the Committee of General Safety, armed with 
which we went to fetch M. Otto from the Luxembourg at five in the 
morning. 



AN EX-MINISTER. 31 



and that he had thought of me as successor to the present Com- 
missioner, whose incapacity was generally acknowledged.* We 
then parted, and on rejoining my colleagues I found that they had 
undergone much the same sort of examination. 

The results of this singular conference were not long delayed ; 
by a decree of Jhe Convention dated i8th Brumaire, year III. 
(November 8, 1794), I was appointed Commissioner of Exterior 
Relations. MM. Otto, Colchen and Reinhart were specially 
attached to the Committee of Public Safety. They were to attend 
to details, as well as to diplomatic correspondence, and I took up 
my abode in the offices to which, as I have said before, the Min- 
istry of Foreign Affairs had been transferred two months pre- 
viously. 

These various changes had taken place without the knowledge 
of Buchot, who learned them from a newspaper which he bought in 
the street on that evening. I nevertheless called upon him on the 
day after my nomination, and treated him with the courtesy usual 
on such occasions. This, however, he seemed to appreciate but 
little. He only told me that he should be much inconvenienced 
if I insisted on his immediately vacating the apartments he occu- 
pied at the Hotel of the Commission. I assured him that, as I 
had no intention of sleeping there, he was at liberty to remain 
until he had provided himself with another residence. He 
thanked me, and said that the Committee had done well in 
appointing me, but that it was very unpleasant for him to have 
been brought to Paris, obliged to give up his profession in the 
country, and afterwards left in the lurch. And then he took it 
into his head to ask me for a place in my office ! I tried to make 
him understand that it would be the height of indecorum on his 
part to accept a secondary post in a department of which he had 
once been the head. He thought such a scruple very extraordi- 
nary, and finding that I hesitated to give an affirmative reply, he 
said that in the event of my not finding him capable of filling the 
place of clerk, which he was soliciting, he would be satisfied with 
that of office-boy. I felt ashamed to witness such meanness, and, 
after a few vague excuses, I left him. He continued to sleep at 
the Hotel for about a week, but I did not see him again. One 
morning I was told that he had not come in on the previous even- 
ing, and that he had removed his property. I am ignorant of 
what happened to him afterward ; he was an extraordinary charac- 
ter ; the most singular mixture of baseness, ignorance and ferocity 
that can be imagined. 

* This awkward appellation was substituted for that of Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs, which was subsequently restored. 



32 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The organization of the Department of Exterior Relations being 
decided on, as I have previously stated, a satisfactory activity set 
in. I worked systematically with the Committee of Public Safety, 
which at that time consisted of men to whom, whatever we may 
think of their political conduct in the course of the Revolution, we 
cannot deny the possession of great ability. Among these are 
Merlin (of Douai), Cambaceres, Sieves, Fourcroy, Boissy d'An- 
glas, Carnot, and others. I endeavoured to renew our foreign rela- 
tions, so far as the isolation in which the coalition of all the Pow- 
ers against France had placed her rendered it possible to do so. 
Consuls were despatched to all countries where there was a hope 
of their being received. A circular letter addressed to the agents of 
the Republic abroad, instructed them to regard enquiries into the 
state of science, of art, and of social progress in general, in the 
countries where they exercised their functions, as one of their first 
duties. The famous Volne}', with whom I became intimate at 
that time, and who honoured me with his friendship until his death, 
drew up at my request a series of questions on political economy, 
which I forwarded to those agents, and the answers conveyed to us 
a tolerably accurate idea of the peoples among whom they dwelt.* 
I ordered foreign publications and newspapers to be sent to me, 
and formed a plan of founding a library and reading-room on the 
premises of the Foreign Office, which should be available for all 
who might choose to come to these for information. Translators 
paid by the Government would assist persons ignorant of the 
original languages in their researches. 

The Committee of Public Safety supported my views, and 
readily accepted the propositions that I laid before it. We were 
then endeavouring to emerge from the abyss of anarchy, and it 
would be unjust not to acknowledge the efforts of the Committee 
to re-establish order, and to restore France, if I may so express it, 
to Europe, whence she had been in a manner exiled. Although 
surrounded by dangers which were the work of the still smoulder- 
ing factions, and which on the 12th Germinal, 3d Prairial, year 
III., and 13th Vendemiaire, year IV. (April, May, and October, 
1795), threatened it with overthrow ; in constant alarm on account 
of the famine that was laying Paris waste, and making a popular ris- 
ing imminent ; obliged to supply the enormous necessities of four- 
teen armies, so as to enable them to consolidate their first triumphs 
and obtain fresh successes ; finally, although hampered in all its 
movements, and suspected in all its purposes, the Committee did 

* These questions, which are a model of precision and sagacity, were 
published in Nivose, year III. (January, 1795), together with the Circular 
'Letter that accompanied them. They form a small volume in iSmo, 
which is now rather scarce. 



THE TREATIES. 33 



not flinch from the burden, but evinced the most astonishing 
activity and the most unwavering fideHty-^I will not say to the 
confidence reposed in it by the public (neither the nation nor even 
the Convention honored it with any), but to the greatness of the 
task imposed on it by destiny. History bears witness that during 
the administration of the Committee which lasted over a year, from 
the 9th Thermidor, year II. (July 28, 1794) until the establish- 
ment of the Constitution of year III. in the month of Vendemiaire, 
year IV. (October 1759), France was victorious everywhere ; and if 
not respected abroad, she was at least feared, for during that inter- 
val several foreign cabinets solicited peace, and so far sacrificed 
their pride as to treat with a Republic that they had openly 
scorned. 

The negotiations entered into by the Committee of Public Safety 
came to a speedy and prosperous issue. Count Carletti, Envoy 
from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, came to Paris to negotiate a 
renewal of neutrality between the French Republic and Tuscany. 
The treaty of peace concluded by this Minister with the Committee 
of Public Safety was ratified by the National Convention on 25th 
Pluviose, year III. (February 13, 1795), on being reported by 
Richard. * 

Another more important treaty was signed shortly afterwards 
(i6th Germinal, year III., April 5, 1795) between Prussia and 
France. Holland, Spain, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel also 
recognized and treated with the Republic in the course of the 
same year, f 

With the exception of the treaty with Tuscany, which, as I have 
said, was negotiated at Paris, directly, between Count Carletti and 
the Committee of Public Safety, the others were negotiated and 
signed at Bale by the French Ambassador, M. Earth elemy, accord- 
ing to instructions from the Committee. The negotiations 
entrusted to this diplomatist were conducted with all the skill he 
had acquired in his long experience of affairs ; but they did not 
present the difficulties that might have been expected in first trans- 
actions of this kind between a Government quite recently estab- 
lished, and long-existing powers which had but lately shown so 
deep an aversion to the doctrines on which it was founded. It is 
certain, I have had opportunities of ascertaining the fact, that the 
advances were not made by the Republic, but that, on the con- 
trary, all the preliminary steps were taken by the foreign cabinets. 
Two powerful motives induced the latter to hasten the conclusion 

* The treaty itself bears date 21st Pluviose (February 9). 

f Holland on 27th Flor^al (May 15) ; Spain, 4th Thermidor (July 22) ; 
the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, nth Fructidor (August 28), year III. 
(1795). 



34 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of peace ; first, the fear of bringing troops full of enthusiasm, 
elated by a long succession of \nctories, and whom no obstacle 
seemed able to stop, on their territory ; and secondly, the dread 
that the principles professed by these troops, and which rendered 
them so formidable, might penetrate into the heart of the ancient 
political constitutions of Europe, carrying with them the germs of 
revolution. 

The third year of the Republic may then be justly considered as 
one of the most brilliant in the history of the nation. During the 
course of this single year France, victorious within, over the 
tyranny of Robespierre and the revolutionary madness, closed the 
den of the Jacobins, made for herself a constitution in which, 
although it had imperfections that might have easily been 
removed, the first principles of the balance of power were laid 
down, and a regular Government, offering such sufl^cient guaran- 
tees that other Governments no longer feared to treat with her, was 
established. Abroad, she regained a high degree of political con- 
sideration, made peace with enemies hitherto bent on her ruin, 
imposed severe conditions on them, and herself submitted to none 
that could lower her dignity. Finally, she carried her arms into 
the neighbouring countries, while she no longer suffered a single 
foreign soldier to tread her soil. Everj'thing promised a great and 
lasting prosperity for her in the future ; but the rulers whom the 
Constitution of year III. placed at her head possessed neither 
ability nor worth ; and when, five years later, she repudiated that 
constitution, the nation, dazzled with glory, heedlessly adopted 
institutions which, as they deviated completely from her professed 
principles and rested on no solid basis, were speedily overthrown. 

Victory alone was for long years faithful to France, and it daz- 
zled her ; but her glory was dearly bought at the price of the loss 
of liberty. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Author is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany — The 12th Germinal — The Author embarks at Marseilles for 
Genoa, and proceeds from thence to Florence — Report to the Commit- 
tee of Public Safety on the political , state of Florence — Difficulties 
caused by the presence of the French E7nigr/s at Leghorn, and by the 
ill-will of the Tuscan authorities towards the Republic — General Buona- 
parte appointed to the command of the army of Italy — Opening of the 
campaign and series of victories obtained by the young General — The 
Governments of Italy take steps towards obtaining peace — The Author 
determines to proceed to Buonaparte's headquarters. 

The re-establishment of political relations between France and sev- 
eral of the European Powers, and an impulse of greater activity 
given to those which had not been entirely broken off, with Swe- 
den, Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States, had once more 
thrown open the career of diplomacy. 

I was only thirty-two years of age ; I was longing for knowl- 
edge, for travel ; I desired therefore to obtain a diplomatic post, 
and the Committee of Public Safety showed itself willing to 
accede to my wishes. I was permitted to choose between the 
mission to Florence and that to the United States. My tastes led 
me to select the former. 

. On 9th Pluviose, year III. (February 6, 1795), I was appointed 
Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of the Grand Duke of Tus- 
cany. The decree of the Committee of Public Safety containing 
my nomination is signed by Cambaceres, Merlin (of Douai), 
Maret, Pelet, Camot, A. Dumont, Fourcroy, Boissy d'Anglas, 
Chazal and Dubois de Crance. M. Freville* was appointed Sec- 
retary of Legation, and M. Finet, a painter, was at my request 
nominated to reside with me at Florence. In his capacity as an 
artist he was to negotiate an exchange of pictures between the two 
Governments, to their mutual advantage. 

Meanwhile the Grand Duke published throughout his States, on 
March ist, 1795, the treaty of peace he had just concluded with 
France, and despatched letters accrediting Count Carletti to the 
functions of Minister Plenipotentiary in Paris. M. Carletti was 

* He died at Paris, a Councillor of State and a Peer of France. 



36 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

solemnly received in that character by the Convention on 28th 
Ventose (March 17), and the minutes of this extraordinary sittinj^ 
are recorded in French and also in Italian at the National Printing 
Office. This was the first political triumph obtained by the 
Republic. 

M. Colchen succeeded me a few days later as Commissioner of 
External Relations, and my letter of credit, together with my in- 
structions, were handed to me on the 9th Germinal (March 24). 

All being thus in order, I was preparing to start, when a fresh 
disturbance threatening the Convention led me to postpone my 
journey, in order that I might observe its tendency and effects. 

The remnant of Robespierre's faction was still active, and as the 
conduct of the Committee of Public Safety deprived that party of 
all hope of regaining power in the Assembly, whether by eloquent 
speech, or by influence over men's minds, it attempted, by an 
insurrectionary movement, to lay forcible hands on the authority 
of which the 9th Thermidor had deprived it. Numerous bodies of 
armed men, delegated by various sections, forced their way into 
the hall of Assembly during the session of the 12th Germinal 
(April i), shouting loudly for bread, for the constitution of 1793, 
and for the release of the patriots, viz. Collot d'Herbois, Billaud- 
Varennes and others, who had been arrested some time previously. 
The Assembly maintained its tranquillity during this attack ; 
Boissy d'Anglas, especially, distinguished himself by the cour- 
ageous firmness which was afterwards put to a terrible test. 

At length the Assembly passed a decree at this memorable sit- 
ting, which lasted until six o'clock in the morning, ordering the 
immediate transportation of Collot d'Herbois, Billaud-Varennes, 
Barrere and Vadier ; and the arrest of several members of the 
Convention, including Chaudieu, Leonard Bourdon, and others. 
Pichegru, who then appeared for the first time on the political 
stage, was entrusted with the command of Paris, and the city was 
declared to be in a state of siege. Numerous patrols perambu- 
lated the streets of the capital during the night, and I myself made 
part of the patrol ordered by the " Section" in which I resided. 
In spite of some opposition, immediately quelled, the decree of 
the Convention was carried out. Collot d'Herbois and Billaud- 
Varennes left for Rochefort, and were sent thence to Sinnamari. 
Two days later, perfect quiet was restored. Feeling convinced 
that after this success public tranquillity would not again be dis- 
turbed for a long time to come — a conviction that shortly after- 
wards unfortunately proved to be unfounded — and having nothing 
to detain me in Paris, I began my journey to Italy on the 20th 
Germinal, year HI. (April 9, 1795). 

As the war in which France was then engaged against Austria 



PUBLIC FEELING IN TUSCANY. 37 

and the King of Sardinia precluded me from travelling through 
Upper Italy, I proceeded to Marseilles, whence I embarked for 
Genoa. We were obliged to put into harbour at San Remo, and 
I performed part of my journey on horseback, crossing the out- 
posts of our army of Italy. This army, which was destined to 
accomplish such great deeds, was at that time ver)' weak. The 
troops occupied ^difficult posts in the mountains, where they were 
subjected to the greatest privations. But they endured them with 
the most admirable resignation, and prepared by heroic patience 
for the glory that was soon to immortalize them. I found Keller- 
mann at Alassio, he had come to take command of the place ; 
and also my countryman Berthier, with whom I had been inti^ 
mate from my youth, and who had been appointed chief of the 
Staff. After having consulted with both as to the means of carry- 
ing on a correspondence, and on the services which the diplomatic 
post I was about to occupy would enable me to render to the 
army, I took my leave and proceeded to Genoa, whence I 
despatched a felucca to Leghorn with my luggage, and I contin- 
ued my route on horseback by the banks of the Levanto. At last, 
having thus made my way through Larici, Sarzano, and Pisa, 
where I found my luggage, I arrived at Florence on the ist Prai- 
rial, year III. (May 28, 1795). I had passed nearly six weeks on 
the journey ; but I had profited by the opportunity of visiting 
Nimes and its antiquities, and the bridge over the Gard, and I 
had passed a few days at Genoa and Pisa, where many objects 
worthy of a traveller's attention had detained me. Freed from the 
terrible agitation of our political troubles, I took a great deal of 
pleasure in this journey, although anxiety as to what was taking 
place in Paris, the grievous reports that were prevalent, and the 
news, true or false, that reached me at every moment, rendered me 
frequently indifferent to the ever-varying spectacle before my eyes. 
In this respect, however, I was but serving an apprenticeship to 
the arduous position in which I was about to find myself in a for- 
eign land, amid a people where, in consequence of our e:xcesses, 
every man was our enemy ; where we met with no sympathy in 
our misfortunes, no excuse for faults or crimes whose perpetrators 
were abhorred, while the victims were not pitied, and no justice 
was shown toward those who had punished the guilty. 

Notwithstanding the manifestation of hostile feeling, which was 
carefully encouraged by the French emigres residing at Pisa and 
Leghorn, the news of the neutrality re-established between France 
and the Grand Duke had been received with universal satisfaction 
in Tuscany. Even the English, although they affected displeasure, 
in reality regarded this event with inward satisfaction. It rendered 
them, in a manner, masters of the port of Leghorn, where by rea- 



38 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

son of the neutrality they could land without fear. English mer- 
chants felt they possessed a guarantee for their property which was 
denied them in a state of war, when at any moment French troops 
might enter Tuscany. Moreover, the English, as masters of the 
sea and {possessors of Corsica, had nothing to fear from our feeble 
navy ; and our privateers, which were almost the only vessels that 
hoisted the national flag in those seas, were in greater danger than 
ever. 

The English, in fact, blockaded the entrance of the port with 
their men-of-war, and it was the only place of safety for our priva- 
teers ; even there they barely found means of escape from enemies 
who had the upper hand at Leghorn, and did not respect the neu- 
trality of a feeble prince. Finally, the population of Leghorn, and 
even its authorities, were entirely devoted to the English, who felt 
certain beforehand of impunity for the numerous breaches of neu- 
trality which they committed. In everything, therefore, the advan- 
tage was on the side of our enemies. 

These inferences! drew from the particulars first given to me by 
I\I. Freville. He had preceded me into Tuscany by some weeks, 
and had come to meet me at Pisa. In the end I was fully con- 
vinced that he had not been mistaken in his estimate of the situa- 
tion. 

After the first few days, which were taken up with the delivery 
of my letters of credit, with my presentation at Court, and the 
duties imposed by etiquette, against which I was careful not to 
offend, in order to show that I was anxious to conform to the cus- 
toms of the country, I began to investigate matters for myself. 

After about a month's stay at Florence, and a few days at Leg- 
horn, the observations which I made were sufficient to enable me to 
form a tolerably precise opinion, which I communicated to the 
Committee of Public Safety. The events of the 3d Prairial, 
year III., which as I had learned on the 13th (May 22, 1795) 
established the triumph of the National Convention, had endowed 
the Provisional (jovernment of France with steadiness and con- 
fidence i-t had not hitherto possessed, and its heads felt the neces- 
sity, with a view to the execution of their plans, of learning what 
was the true position of Italy, towards which their eyes were 
turned, the princii)les of the first government with which they had 
treated, and the character of those who directed it. I took every 
pains to satisfy curiosity so well founded, and the following is 
nearly what I wrote on the subject to the Committee of Public 
Safety, 20th Messidor, year III. (July 8, 1795). 

" After the famous era of the Florentine Republic, Tuscany had 
been erected into a Grand Duchy under the sceptre of the descend- 
ants of the Medicis, and was scarcely distinguishable from the 



A MEMORANDUM. 39 



Other secondary States of Italy, until Peter-Leopold gave her a 
more important part to play. Considering this prince in his 
capacity as a Grand Duke we cannot but recognize in him an 
enlightened ruler. The wisdom of his commercial regulations, 
his efforts to reduce the authority of the nobles, and to restore the 
influence they had lost to the middle classes of society, prepared a 
happier existence for Tuscany than she had enjoyed during the 
reign of his predecessor. But while for these reasons he won the 
approbation of enlightened men, he was in the highest degree dis- 
pleasing to the class whose privileges and prejudices he attacked. 
Meanwhile his absolute authority, the unsparing rigour with which 
he used it when necessary, and the strength afforded him by his 
great popularity, were sufficient to stifle every germ of discontent. 

" The death of Joseph II. and the French Revolution brought 
about a new order of things. Leopold reigned in Vienna, and as 
Emperor seemed to forget or to repudiate the principles he had 
professed as Grand Duke. His accession to the Imperial throne, 
and his death, which took place very soon afterwards, caused the 
government of Tuscany to devolve on his second son, Ferdinand 
III. , then hardly more than a youth, and the pupil of the Mar- 
quis de Manfredini, to whose care his father had confided him. 

' ' The retrograde movement of the Emperor Leopold, in declar- 
ing himself against the French Revolution, became an occasion of 
triumph to the class he had kept down in Tuscany. His govern- 
ment and his laws were attacked, his memory was insulted, and a 
party antagonistic to the system he had established was soon 
formed. The infl,uence of Manfredini and the inertia natural to a 
government which was opposed to all violent measures, had the 
advantage in the struggle with this party ; but eventually, assisted 
by the emigres, and by English influence, it succeeded in pushing 
Tuscany into the coalition against France, an imprudent step which 
nearly caused her ruin. 

" French victories, the counsels of Maniredini, and still more, 
perhaps, the tendency to inaction natural to the country, soon 
made the danger of so impolitic a rupture evident. Peace was 
solicited, and France acquiesced. 

' ' But it would be a great mistake to suppose that this reconcili- 
ation was the result of friendly feeling, or of any similarity of prin- 
ciple. All that I have said proves the contrary. Fear has done 
it all. There exists but one man here, whose actions seem to be 
dictated by wider views, by philosophic ideas, and by a general 
philanthropy. That man is Manfredini. 

' ' He is attached to the principles of Leopold' s Government, and 
although perhaps he is not at one with him as to the means of 
carrying them out, he seems to take a pride in maintaining his 



40 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTTO. 

system. He has hitherto retained great ascendency over the mind 
of his pupil, and I must do Ferdinand III. the justice to say that 
he is himself disposed to follow the path traced out by Manfredini. 
Meanwhile the opposite party, Unking advantaij^e of the youth and 
inexperience of the Prince, acquire fresh strength every day, and 
while waiting until they may venture openly to attack Manfredini, 
they seek stealthily by every means to weaken his authority and 
diminish the respect in which he is held. 

' ' Leopold's plans have already been abandoned in many respects. 
The laws on the freedom of trade have beeji modified ; poverty in 
the country districts and dearness of provisions, the result of the 
restrictions on trade, are already beginning to be felt. There is a 
project for restoring the penalty of death which was suppressed by 
the code of 1774. The power of the priests, which had been con- 
siderably restricted by means of wise regulations, is again spring- 
ing up. The men employed by Leopold have been set aside. In 
a word, this country, which has latterly made such strides towards 
philosophical ideas .and a better government, and which has even 
in that respect outstripped other nations, is now evidently falling 
back, and ready once more to take up the yoke of prejudice, from 
which the genius of one man had delivered it. 

" Manfredini is a witness of these ill-starred innovations, but he 
either makes no effort to arrest them or he feels himself powerless 
to do so. I am strongly of opinion that it is in order to secure 
the triumph of his opinions as regards neutrality, that he has 
thought it well to yield on other points. If I am not mistaken in 
this conjecture, he has committed, I apprehend, a great blunder. 
He should have taken up his position on the basis of Leopold's 
government, and should have deduced the maintenance of neu- 
trality as a consequence from it. By relinquishing that basis, he 
gives a great advantage to his enemies. He will be imperceptibly 
drawn into measures entirely opposed to his own views, and it will 
be easy afterwards to overthrow him, when surrounded only by the 
ruins of a government which was the safeguard of his reputation 
and political existence. 

" It is quite true that Ferdinand would be unwilling to part with 
Manfredini. The habit of consulting him in everything, which 
public esteem has justified, makes him necessary to the Prince. 
Moreover P'erdinand, although gifted, so far as I have been able 
to judge, with an upright mind, simple in his habits, much better 
brought up, and better informed than men of his rank in general, 
is perhaps more averse than any one else to the measures pressed 
upon him, and of all persons that one to whom they would be 
most repugnant. Consequently he seems to me to be thought 
little of by the n«jbles. and though he is one of the most estimable 



MANFREDINI S POLICY. 4I 

men whom I have met with here, I have not heard a single word 
in his praise. But with all these qualities he is young, and the 
fears that may be instilled into him for the security of his power, 
amid the events that are now disturbing Europe, must react on 
him, and weaken the opposition to the proposed innovations to 
which his education and his natural character would urge him. 

" On the other hand, it seems to me equally impossible that he 
should entirely release himself from the influence of the Emperor, 
and certainly the Cabinet of Vienna is not in accord with Man- 
fredini. The hopes of the latter — he did not conceal them from 
me — were to bring back the Emperor to his former principles, and 
to make Tuscany mediate for peace between Austria and the 
French Republic. The steps latterly taken at Vienna, the alliance 
between Russia and England, the subsidies granted by the last- 
named Power ; finally, the report that has got abroad, that the 
overtures of such a negotiation, if there is to be one, would take 
place at Basel, have wrecked Manfredini's hopes, and conse- 
quently lessened his influence, which such a negotiation, if 
crowned with success, would have raised higher than ever. 

*' I shall not dismiss the question whether France should desire 
or dread the realization of Manfredini's ideas. My immediate 
concern is with the consequences to the Government of Tuscany 
that may ensue from all these facts. 

" It is evident that the present conjuncture is favourable to that 
numerous party who are hostile to the system of government 
adopted by Leopold, and who will make every effort to turn it to 
their own advantage. That party will therefore intrigue with the 
object of influencing the selection of a Prime Minister, whose 
functions comprise those of the department of Foreign Affairs, and 
whose place may be said to have been vacant for a long time past, 
for Senator Serristori who occupies it is a mere figure-head. The 
post, however, must soon become actually vacant through his death 
or retirement. 

' ' Manfredini, having hitherto directed the action of the Govern- 
ment, without official title, has made no change in the Ministry. 
He has restricted himself to preparing beforehand a man whom 
he can trust as a successor to Serristori. Neri-Corsini,* at present 
Secretary of State, is named for that office. He belongs to an 
illustrious family ; he is young, and having never left Italy, his ex- 
perience and his knowledge of affairs seem to me limited to the 
ancient ways of the astute policy that has always prevailed in the 

* Since then he has been Councillor of State in France, where I found 
him, when, in 1813. I resumed my place in the Council of State. He 
was, like myself, a member of the Interior Section. We little thought, 
in 1795, at Florence, that we should be colleagues eighteen years later. 



42 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Cabinets of this country. Beinp^ connected with the aristocracy, 
both bv family interests and by birth, he seems to me to be widely 
divided from us in principles ; but he acts with dissimulation, and 
lets his real sentiments appear as little as possible. Nevertheless 
it is plain that Manfredini has but an ungrateful pupil in this 
young man, one greatly inclined to go over to the side of his 
enemies if their party prevails. 

" Corsini is aware that in such an event he need not aspire to 
the post now destined for him. He feels that, strictly speaking, 
he might be able to fill it under the tutelage of Manfredini, but 
that, left to himself, he could not sustain its weight, and that his 
youth alone would be a sufficient reason for excluding him. Such 
a competitor being therefore by no means formidable, the eyes 
of this political party would turn, after the overthrow of Man- 
fredini, towards Signor Francesco Serrati, the present Governor of 
Leghorn, who, by reason of his age, his gravity, the importance of 
the posts he has filled and the reputation he has acquired, may at 
any moment be invested not only with the tide but with the actual 
functions of Prime Minister ; may succeed to Manfredini in the 
direction of affairs, and may even exercise, though in an opposite 
sense, equal influence in the general administration of the State." 

Such was the situation of the Tuscan Government, and such the 
view of it that I sought to impress upon the Committee of Public 
Safety, by insisting on the indispensable necessity of serious atten- 
tion to the war in Italv, which until then had been almost dis- 
regarded. It will be seen hereafter that I was not greaUy mistaken 
in my judgment, in the results I foretold, and in the nature of the 
remedy. But in the meantime I had serious difficulties to over- 
come, for it is evident that until we had acquired the upper hand 
in Italy by force of arms, we should possess neither the security of 
neutrality nor the advantages of conquest. Every prejudice had 
been aroused against us. The nobles, whose privileges and influ- 
ence were attacked by the spread of our doctrines, bore us an ill- 
concealed hatred ; the people, excited by the priests, and also, it 
must be' confessed, by the violent speeches and odious calumnies 
of the emigres, were ready, at a word, to rush into the greatest ex- 
cesses against the French, and many of our countrymen have fallen 
victims to their fury, on occasions it could be vented with impunity. 

Amid the hostile feelings prevailing among the two extremes of 
society, my arrival at Florence had caused a sensation and excited 
malevolent curiosity. The strangest rumors had preceded me. 
People expected to see a sort of savage, clothed in an extraordinary 
manner, using the coarsest language, having no idea of the rules 
of society, and ready ostentatiously to violate them. My habits, 
my mode of life, the deference to the customs of the country I 



ALFIERI. 43 

was scrupulous to show, and the care with which I respected even 
its prejudices, soon dispelled these first impressions ; I was even 
received by the middle and most cultivated class of its inhabitants, 
and by men of letters, artists, and men of science, such as Fontana, 
Fossombroni, Fabbroni, Galuzzi, &c., more favourably than I had 
ventured to expect, I must, however, except Alfieri, who was 
then in Tuscany, where he lived on terms of great intimacy with 
Madame d' Albany. * It is well known that this remarkable 
genius — one of the most illustrious writers of Italy, who displayed 
in his work on Tyranny an ardent hatred of despotism, and was 
one of the warmest apologists of the French Revolution — taking 
offence at the severity of the decrees of the Constituent Assembly 
which attacked Madame d' Albany's property, and disgusted prob- 
ably by the excesses which subsequently dishonoured the cause of 
liberty, had entirely changed his opinions. He bitterly hated the 
whole French nation, and had expressed his hatred in most insult- 
ing verse. I should have liked to have made the acquaintance of 
a man of such remarkable talent, in the hope of gradually over- 
coming an enmity which passed the bounds of reason and justice ; 
but he was too inflexible to yield, and after some overtures, which 
he rejected, I abstained with regret from any further effort. 

Meanwhile, although my conduct and my domestic life had, 
on becoming known, removed the popular prejudice against me, 
political opinion had not altered, and in proportion as I progressed 
in the management of affairs, it became more and more adverse. 
Leghorn was almost daily the scene of contests between the emigres 
and the little band of Republicans whom trade or privateering 
brought to the town. Some Frenchmen, taken prisoners by the 
English, f who had carried them to Leghorn, were insulted and 
wounded during an altercation which arose between them and the 
emigres. The populace, being friendly to the English, encouraged 
these acts of violence, and the Tuscan Government, fearing to com- 
promise itself, had acted towards the guilty persons with reprehen- 
sible supineness. My first care, therefore, was to prevent the re- 
currence of these deplorable quarrels, by demanding the expulsion 
of those who, regardless of the tranquillity of the country which 
had given them hospitality, were continually bringing it into diffi- 
culties, and at the same time were wanting in every sentiment of 
generosity towards the brave soldiers whose misfortunes should 

* Madame d' Albany was the widow of one of the last descendants of 
the Stuarts. Of that House, so celebrated for its misfortunes, there nov/ 
remained only the Cardinal of York, whom I met at Rome. On his 
death, the Stuart family became completely extinct. 

f These prisoners were part of the crew of the men-of-war the ^a-ira 
and the Censeur. 



44 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



have excited the sympathy of their countrymen. Their banish- 
ment, on which I insisted, was in the interest of the Grand Duke 
and of the emiij^rt's themselves. The latter would have found a 
more peaceful retreat in t)thcr parts of Tuscany, and the Govern- 
ment, by appointing the interior of the country for their residence, 
would have avoided a continual subject of complaints and recrimi- 
nations, which constantly compromised it with France, and in the 
end brought down the arms of the Republic on Leghorn. 

The most evident self-interest counselled them to follow s< 
reasonable a course, and yet Ferdinand's Ministers would n( 
adopt it. Our armies, detained in the Riviera of Genoa, had not 
yet entered Italy. Not being woiked on by fear, the Ministry] 
stuck to the tortuous and evasive policy generally adopted by^ 
Italian cabinets. They made promises only to break them ; thej 
replied to complaints by other complaints ; accusations were met 
with rival accusations ; they extended impunity to those who were 
guilty of the excesses I had denounced, while they demanded the 
punishment of a few Frenchmen accused by the Tuscan Govern- 
ment. 1 went myself to Leghorn to ascertain the real state of 
things, so as to be on my guard against the exaggerated reports 
brought to me, but my journey was almost in vain. The onl}- 
thing of which I convinced myself was that Signor Serrati, Gov- 
ernor of Leghorn, was an open enemy of France. In the very 
warm discussions which I had with him relative to the affair of the 
French prisoners to which I have previously alluded, his partiality 
for our enemies was discernible through his affected assurances of 
sincere respect for neutrality. He was opposed to all the measures 
that 1 had proposed, and I returned to Florence convinced that we 
should not obtain any satisfaction, so long as my demands were 
not sustained by dread of our arms. But the time was approach- 
ing when the irresistible strength of victory was to display itself, 
and the Tuscan Government to perceive too late that its ill-dis- 
guised partiality had aroused so much resentment, that it could no 
longer hope to save itself from the torrent w^hich was about to be 
let loose on Italy. 

The events of the 13U1 Vendemiaire, year IV. (5th October, 
1795) had placed on the political stage a man who was to fill the 
whole of Europe with his name in less than three years. Buona- 
parte, who was called to the defence of the National Convention 
against the combined sections which menaced it, had triumphed 
easily over the brave but undisciplined crowd led by its ignorant 
chiefs. The importance rather than the merit of his success had 
drawn public attention to him ; and when the constitution of year 
III. placed a Directory composed of five members at the head of 
the Government, Barras, one of the five, who had put forward the 



BUONAPARTE. 45 



»^oung General during the days of Vendemiaire, either through 
gratitude or because he recognised his genius, occupied himself 
kvith his fortunes, arranged a marriage between him^and Madame 
ie Beauharnais, and, six months later, gave him the comriiand of 
ihe army of Italy. 

I'his post was not a popular one. The army of Italy, the small- 
est of all those we bad in action, was least fit for action.* Scherez 
j— one of the most incapable of French generals — who succeeded 
kellermann, had been attacked and beaten by the Austrian Gen- 
eral De Vins. Obliged to evacuate Vado, f his communications 
with. Genoa were cut off, and when by some subsequent successes 
he regained the line, he did not know how to profit by it to pene- 
trate into the plain, but remained in complete inaction. The 
French, hemmed in between the coast and the mountains, unable 
to get supplies except by sea — an uncertain and often a dangerous 
method — could scarcely hold their difficult position, by dint of 
valour and endurance, against the attacks of an enemy now elated 
by success. Already people imagined us driven hopelessly from 
the frontier of Italy, which we had not dared to pass, and fancied 
the Austrians on the point of invading our Southern Departments. 
The inimical Governments of Rome and Naples, emboldened by 
our reverses at Vado, took an active part in the war, and furnished 
both men and money to our enemy. Venice and Genoa, who had 
remained neutral, were vacillating, and sought to obtain pardon 
for not having joined the coalition, by using their neutrality in the 
service of Austria. Even Tuscany, which had just entered into a 
treaty with us, assumed an air of patronage, disdainfully deferred 
her replies to our just complaints, and appointed Signor Serrati as 
her Prime Minister, replacing him at Leghorn by Signor Spanoc- 
chi, formerly a naval captain in the service of Naples, regardless 
of the annoyance which appointments so disagreeable to us and so 
unfavourable to our interests must necessarily produce. 

It was with an army apparently so little to be feared, it was with 
means so limited, and in presence of difficulties so great, that 
Buonaparte had to act. But he felt his own strength, his genius 
had already suggested a plan different from all those of the com- 
manders who had preceded him, and nothing was ever more ad- 
mirable than the conception of that plan, unless indeed the aston- 
ishing rapidity with which he put it into execution. 

Meanwhile the Executive Directory, which had sent me fresh 
letters of credit, signalised its accession to the Government of the 

* At the end of year III. and the beginning of year IV. (six last 
months of 1795). 

f In the month of Messidor, year III. (July, 1795). 



4.6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MTOT DE MELITO. 

Republic by energetic measures. It made known to me its in-i 
tenlion of giving a fresh impulse to the war in Italy, and ordered 
me to support the generals of the army by every means in my\ 
power, and to assume a firm and threatening attitude towards the^ 
Government to which I was accredited, The Directory had dis- 
missed M. Carletti, the Grand Duke's Minister, from Paris, be- 
cause he had asked permission to visit the daughter of Louis XVI.. 
The young Princess was on the point of leaving Paris for Vienna,, 
and was to be exchanged at the frontier for the former Commis-- 
sioners of the Convention, General Beurnonville, who had beeni 
arrested by Dumouriez in April 1793, and MM. de Semonville. 
and Maret, who were made prisoners by Austria during the same: 
year, while passing through Switzerland on their way to Constanti-- 
nople as diplomatic agents of the Republic. The Grand Duke, , 
alarmed by so decisive a proceeding, put up with it without ven-- 
turing to complain, although deeply aggrieved ; and Carletti, 
censured by his own Court for his imprudence, was succeeded ati 
Paris by Neri-Corsini.* Without in reality approving the conduct l 
of the Directory, who in this affair appeared to me to offend! 
against all diplomatic custom, and to punish with uncalled-for 
severity a merely formal request which they might simply have re- 
fused, I could not but perceive that its stern action had inspired a 
salutary fear. If it did not make us loved — an impossibility, no 
matter what we did — at least it made us feared, and to some ex- 
tent facilitated my dealings with the Tuscan Government. I took 
advantage of this state of feeling to obtain from the Government 
the refusal of free passage through Tuscan territory to the regi- 
ments sent by the Court of Naples to the Austrian army. During 
this negotiation, in which I was opposed by family interests, f I 
was ably seconded by M. Manfredini, who strongly urged the strict 
observance of neutrality. Of this they made a crime at Vienna, 
whither a copy had been sent of a letter I had written on the sub- 
ject to Charles Lacroix, Minister of Foreign Affairs, containing an 
account of conversations between myself and Manfredini, in which 
the neutrality question had been discussed. This copy, stolen 
from the bureaux of the Ministry in Paris by some treacherous per- 
son who was probably bribed, was used, as an act of accusation, 
against Manfredini, and he was obliged to qo to Vienna to clear 
himself. I 

* The new Minister arrived in Paris on the I5lh Nivose, year IV. (5lh 
January, 1796). Carletti had already left, and reached Basel on the 7th 
Nivose (2Sih December, 1795). 

I The Grand Duchess was a daughter of the Queen of Naples. 

\ This journey took place in April, 1796. He came back in May. and he 
assured me himself that he had seen the copy of the letter of which I speak. 



SPLENDID TRIUMPHS OF THE ARMY. 4/ 

The fears by which from time to time the Tuscan Government 
was swayed, were in themselves proof of its weakness. I in vain 
expected from it the firmness necessary to bring the outrages of 
which Leghorn was so often the scene to an end. Acts of vio- 
lence against the French, incited by turns by the emigres^ the 
Neapolitans or the English, were constantly committed, and pro- 
voked the bitterest resentment, skilfully augmented by men who 
coveted her wealth, against the town. They ultimately succeeded 
in ruining Leghorn. 

The war in Italy was assuming a formidable aspect. Buona- 
parte had arrived at Nice at the beginning of Germinal, year IV. 
(April 1796). I received a first letter from him, in which he an- 
nounced that he was about to put the army in motion. At the 
same time he asked me to give him any information I could about 
the state of Italy. I saw at once by his style, which was concise 
and animated, although careless and incorrect, that he was no or- 
dinary man. I was struck with a breadth and depth of view on 
military and political subjects, such as I had not found in any 
correspondence which I had held up to that time with the generals 
of our arm.y of Italy. I predicted, therefore, either great success 
or great reverses. My uncertainty did not last long. The cam- 
paign was opened, and a series of victories as dazzling as they 
were unexpected, succeeding e^-ch other with surprising quickness, 
raised the glory of our French soldiers, and that of the great cap- 
tain who led them daily by fresh triumphs to the highest point. 

It does not enter into the scope of this work to relate in detail 
the military events of that memorable campaign. The batdes of 
Montenotte, of Millesimo, of Mondovi ; the engagements at Dego 
and at St. Jean ; the passage of the bridge of Lodi, are among the 
great facts of history ; and their names, recalling so much valour, 
such deeds of daring, such a display of talent, genius so audacious 
in design, so fertile in resource, have become immortal. The 
news reached to the centre of Italy, and the bulletins giving de- 
scriptions of these wonderful deeds of our troops, at first contra- 
dicted, produced sheer bewilderment, when the force of truth 
convinced the most incredulous. Nothing was then thought of 
but how the torrent of war was to be turned away from regions it 
had not yet reached. 

The victories of the French, the armistices concluded with the 
King of Sardinia, and the Dukes of Modena and Parma, and the 
occupation of the country round Milan, had disconcerted the pol- 
icy of Upper Italy. I received more attention from the Cabinet 
of Florence than had yet been shown me. Notwithstanding Neri- 
Corsini's efforts to oppose it in Paris, notwithstanding his com- 
plaints of what he called my haughtiness, a proclamation was 
issued, ordering the emigres to leave Leghorn, and this measure, 



48 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

which in reality did them a service, was carried out with all the 
considemtion demanded by humanity and with the respect due to 
misfortune. Rome and Naples, especially the former of those two 
Powers, which was more cxj)osed to immediate attack from the 
conqueror, began to take steps to obtain peace, or at least a suspen- 
sion of hostilities. Prince Bclmontc-Pignatelli, ambassador from 
Naples to the King of Spain, came to Florence with instructions 
from his Court to make the first advances to me. Count Man- 
fredini introduced him, and begged me to second the steps he 
proposed to take with respect to the General Commander-in-Chief 
of the French army. As an armistice with Naples, of which one 
condition would be to close the ports of that kingdom against the 
Fnglish, and to withdraw the Neapolitan cavalry regiments from 
the Austrian army, seemed to me advantageous both in a political 
and military point of view, I readily undertook to second the pro- 
posals of Prince Pignatelli, and I even promised to go myself to 
Buonaparte's headquarters to open the negotiation. 

Apart from this motive, which was in itself sulificient to make 
me undertake the journey, I was resolved upon it for other reasons. 
It was important for me, with a view to the ordering of my future 
conduct, to know what political bent a general who had already 
assumed an almost independent authority, and was inclined rather 
to dictate orders to the Directory than to receive them, intended 
to give to our dealings with the various Powers of Italy. Did he 
intend to transform the conquered States into a Republic, as he 
was urged to do by all the numerous vehement Republicans who 
were beginning to make their voices heard throughout the country ? 
Did he, by leaving these countries under their former modes of 
government, mean only to keep them dependent on France ? 
What were his designs respecting Rome and the Pope ? Would 
he recognise the latter under the twofold aspect of a temporal and 
spiritual power ? 

In the views of the advantages to be reaped from our victories in 
Italy, and of the use we should make of the preponderance they 
gave us in that country, which I had submitted to the Directory, I 
had particularly insisted on two results which I looked upon as 
the real fruit of our conquests : the complete destruction of the 
power of Austria in Italy, and the overthrow of the Papal Govern- 
ment. I was firmly convinced that emancipated France had no 
more formidable and implacable enemy than that Power ; it was 
therefore indispensable that I should be in harmony with a con- 
queror who, after subjugating Italy by force of arms, was not the 
man to neglect its political administration. 

I was quite sure he would agree with me as to the exclusion of 
the House of Austria from all power and even from all property in 
Italy ; but I was not so certain of his views on the other question. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Author's interview with General Buonaparte — Conclusion of the 
armistice between the General and Prince Pignatelli, Plenipotentiary at 
Naples — The Author returns to Florence — He goes away again to visit 
General Buonaparte at Bologna — His interview with him — The Author 
does not succeed in preventing the violation of the neutrality of Tus- 
cany and the occupation of Leghorn by the French — In returning from 
Leghorn, General Buonaparte stops at Florence, visits the Grand Duke 
and dines with him — A treaty being concluded between the Pope and 
the French Republic, the Author goes to Rome to secure the fulfilment 
of its conditions — The gloomy fanaticism reigning in Rome — Some dis- 
contented Italians having claimed the intervention of the French for 
the purpose of introducing Republican Institutions in Italy, the Author, 
instructed by the Directory to inform them of his views, strongly 
opposes the project — Being superseded by Cacault in the duty of super- 
intending the fulfilment of the terms of the armistice at Rome, the Author 
returns to Florence — Rumours of the reverses experienced by Buonaparte 
produce great excitement in Italy — The Governments no longer conceal 
their tendencies, and the Author sends M, Freville to Paris to point 
out to the Directory the necessity of excluding Austria from all influence 
in Italy, and of destroying the Papal Government — The Author is ap- 
pointed Ambassador at Turin, but before entering upon the exercise of 
his functions, he has to undertake a mission to Corsica as Commis- 
sioner Extraordinary of the Government — Sketch of the State of Tus- 
cany, the conditions of life, and customs of the inhabitants of Florence. 

After having confided the guidance of affairs during my absence 
to M. Freville, I began my journey on the 3d Prairial (May 22, 
1796). I went by Prato and Pistoja, and crossing the Apennines 
by the magnificent road made by Leopold's orders a few years be- 
fore, I reached Rubiera, and from thence Reggio, without having 
touched Pontifical territory. This I thought prudent, on account 
of the hostility which still existed between France and the Pope. 
It was with a view to placing his States in a direct line of commu- 
nication with the other possessions of the House of Austria in Italy 
that the Grand Duke had ordered this road, which terminated at 
Rubiera, to be made. 

From Reggio I went by Parma and Placenza to Milan. The 
armistices recently concluded with the Dukes of Modena and 
Parma opened a free passage to the French through their territo- 
ries, and the neighbourhood of our triumphant armies held the 
population in check. But, in spite of the terror and aston- 



50 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ishment produced by our victories, the aversion of the inhabi- 
tants was visible on every occasion. Some revolts had broken 
out, and I was dctainetl one day at Placenza by a riot at Binasco, a 
lar<;e town between Milan and Pavia. This revolt, in consequence 
of which the latter city shut its gates and imprisoned the French 
garrison, assumed a serious aspect, and was only suppressed by 
sanguinary military executions. As the roads were very unsafe, 
in consequence of these disturbances, 1 did not cross the Po until 
tranquillity was re-established on both sides of the river. 

I reached Milan on the 6th Prairial (May 26, 1796), but found 
that General Buonaparte was not there. Having retraced his step)s 
with his ordinar}' rapidity, punished the rioters and reduced Pavia 
to submission, he had proceeded to besiege Mantua, the only 
stronghold in all Lombardy which, with the fortress of Milan, still 
remained in the power of the Austrians. I was therefore obliged 
to go to headquarters to find him. 1 remained, however, several 
days at Milan, and there saw Salicetti, the Commissioner of the 
Executive Directory, with whom I had no previous acquaintance. 
Judging from the reputation he had acquired in the Convention, 
and which had preceded him in Italy, I had expected a cold 
reception, and was not a little surprised to meet a man of the 
greatest politeness and urbanity of demeanour, and who received 
me with the utmost courtesy. Salicetti, of whom I shall have to 
give a detailed account further on in these Memoirs, and of 
whom I shall say no more here than that he possessed great abil- 
ity, recognized the necessity of conforming in manner and style of 
conversation to the fashion of the country in which he now lived. 
In this, at first sight, he appeared to have perfectly succeeded ;* 
but in the course of our frequent interviews I found we were not 
at one as to the political course to be pursued in Italy. I insisted 
especially that the neutrality of Tuscany must be respected. 
While admitting the justice of our complaints against its Govern- 
ment, I mainlaincd that it would be worthy of the generosity of 
France to pardon its errors, and of her justice to obser\'e the con- 
fidence manifested by the Grand Duke by his treating with us, and 
being the first to set the exami)le of the re-establishment of politi- 
cal relations between the Republic and the Continental Powers. 
But I soon saw that the Commissioner of the Directory had other 
views, and differed with me from another motive than that of 
avenging the injuires which the French had sustained at Leghorn. 

• He had, however, exercised some severity in driving from Milan 
certain distinguished citizens whose intluence he feared. Among the num- 
ber was Signer de Melzi, who afterwards played a great part in the 
annals of his country. He went to Florence, where I saw a good deal of 
him, and a friendship sprung up between us which lasted until his death. 



BRESCIA. 51 

It was the wealth of that city which tempted his cupidity. Its 
riches were all regarded as English property ; and, under that pre- 
text, should we become masters of Leghorn everything would fall 
into our hands. The imagination of man had never conceived a 
more splendid prize. Part of the booty, no doubt, would have 
to go to the State, but a great deal would remain in the hands of 
those charged with its distribution. From the moment that I 
recognized hfs real end I despaired of the success of my own 
views, and saw that the only chance of prevailing was my having 
better luck with the Commander-in-Chief. 

I left Milan on the 15th Prairial (June 3), and directed my steps 
towards headquarters ; but on reaching Brescia I learned that 
Buonaparte was expected there from day to day. I therefore 
remained at Brescia, where I found Prince Belmonte-Pignatelli, 
who had arrived there before me. 

On the 1 7th Prairial, Buonaparte came to Brescia from Verona. 
He had entered the latter city on the 15 th, after having forced the 
remainder of the Austrian army, commanded by Beaulieu, to 
recross the Adige and to retire upon Trente by the valley watered 
by that river. He was on his way back to Milan, and I was with 
him a few moments after he dismounted. I was quite astonished 
at his appearance. Nothing could be more unlike the idea my 
imagination had formed of him. In the midst of a numerous 
staff, I saw a man below the middle height, and of an extremely 
spare figure. His powdered hair, oddly cut and falling squarely 
below the ears, reached down to his shoulders. He was dressed in 
a straight coat, buttoned up to the chin, and edged with very 
narrow gold embroidery, and he wore a tricoloured feather in his 
hat. At first sight he did not strike me as handsome ; but his 
strongly-marked features, his quick and piercing eyes, his brusque 
and animated gestures revealed an ardent spirit, while his wide and 
thoughtful brow was that of a profound thinker. He made me sit 
near him, and we talked of Italy. He spoke in short sentences 
and, at that time of his life, very incorrectly. He said that noth- 
ing would be really done until we were in possession of Mantua ; 
that then only could we consider ourselves masters of Italy ; that 
so difficult a siege must necessarily last long ; that we had not the 
means even of commencing it, and that for the moment we must 
be content with surrounding the place ; that it could not be 
doubted but that Austria would put another army on foot in order 
to succour so important a stronghold, but that she required time in 
which to assemble an army ; so that we had consequently a month 
before us, which he intended to employ in advancing toward the 
centre of Italy, making himself master there, and securing tran- 
quillity on that side when the war in Upper Italy should recom- 



52 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTTO. 

mence. His discourse naturally led me to mention the overtures 
that Prince Belmontc-Pignatelli had made to me at Florence ; I 
infornictl him of the Prince's presence at Brescia, and of my de- 
sire to present Pignatelli to him. He said that this was good 
news, and that he, like me, saw no objection to treating lor an 
armistice.* I proj)Osed that he should stipulate as one of its con- 
ditions that the ports of the kingdom of Naples should be closed 
to the English. " Ah ! that is the policy of the diplomatist," he 
answered abruptly. " What we must stipulate for just now is that 
Naples shall immediately withdraw her troops from the Austrian 
army. The infantry is worthless ; but you are aware that they 
have four excellent regiments of cavalry which have already given 
me a great deal of trouble. I should like to get rid of these as 
speedily as possible. Send ]\I. de Belmonte to me ; the treaty 
siiall soon be made." And, in fact, the treaty was drawn up, and 
signed in the course of that day — in less than two hours. I man- 
aged, however, to have a clause inserted by which it was stipulated 
that the Neapolitan vessels should separate at the earliest opportu- 
nity from the English squadron, f 

This affair concluded, I began to discuss the general policy of 
^ Italy with Buonaparte. I saw that he was ill-disposed towards 
Tuscany and already contemplated the occupation of Leghorn. 
I tried to discuss that point, but as he was in haste, I saw clearly 
that he would not listen ; I therefore confined myself to giving 
him a memorandum| drawn up at Milan, in which I had exhaust- 
ively treated the question, which I could not argue with him ver- 
bally. I told him that I had left a copy in Salicetti's hands, 
although I perceived that the reputed wealth of Leghorn tempted 
him toward so profitable a conquest. " The Commissioners of 
the Directory, " he answered impatiently, "count for nothing in 
my policy. Let them busy themselves, and welcome, with the 
atlministration of the public revenues, for the moment at least, the 
rest does not concern them. I do not expect they will long retain 
their posts, nor will the Directory send me others in their room. 
On the other hand. Citizen Miot, I will read your Memorandum, 

* He used the word amnesty, and throughout the whole conversation 
always made the same error. 

f This armistice, called simply a suspension of hostilities, is dated from 
Brescia. June 5 (Kjth Prairial, year IV.), and signed Buonaparte and 
Helmonte-Pignatelli. It contains five articles only, of which the fourth 
relates to the Neapolitan vessels. 

X This Memoir turned on the points previously indicated : the expul- 
sion of the Austrian power from Italy, and the annihilation of the Papal 
Government. I also endeavoured to show that the dignity of France, as 
well as her manifest interest, demanded that she should refrain from a 
violation of the neutrality of Tuscany. 



VENICE. 53 

and I hope you will meet me at Bologna, where I shall be, no 
matter what are my futuie plans, in a fortnight's time. I shall 
send a courier to inform you of my arrival. Adieu. ' ' 

The horses were harnessed. He crossed the rooms adjoining 
that in which he had received me, and gave some orders to Murat, 
Lannes and Junot, his aides-de-camp,* and the other officers in 
attendance. Every one maintained towards him an attitude of 
respect, and I may even say of admiration. I saw none of those 
marks of familiarity between him and his companions that I had 
observed in other cases, and which was consonant with republican 
equality. He had already assumed his own place, and set others 
at a distance. 

I saw him off, and then returned to my hotel, greatly struck 
and in some sort bewildered by what had just taken place. I im- 
mediately occupied myself with committing the particulars of this 
interview to paper, and I then took leave of Prince de Belmonte, 
who was returning to Naples by way of Milan, much surprised 
and delighted at a diplomatic negotiation being concluded during 
a change of horses. 1 passed the night at Brescia, and left the 
town next morning for Venice. I was too near that celebrated 
city not to gratify the curiosity I had long felt, by a visit to it. 

The mainland of the Venetian Republic was partly in the occu- 
pation of the French. Dezensano, Peschiera on Lake Guarda, 
and Verona, an important post at the entrance of the valley of the 
Adige, were garrisoned by French troops, and, as had always hap- 
pened in Italian wars, Venice, unable to enforce respect for her 
neutrality, was again in this campaign fated to supply a field of 
battle to the annies that were disputing the conquest of that beau- 
tiful and hapless country. I found, however, no French troops 
beyond Verona. From the gates and towers of Vicenza and Padua 
the standard of St. Mark was flying ; the smiling valley of Brenta 
lay before the traveller, adorned by the luxurious dwellings of the 
wealthy owners of a hundred magnificent palaces, rising from the 
banks of the river, whose waters were furrowed in every direction 
by boats and gondolas. During this journey I forgot the busy 
scenes I had left behind, and enjoyed the tranquil landscape pass- 
ing before my eyes, and it was through scenes of continual 
enchantment that I reached Fusino on the lagoon. There, a far 
different spectacle presented itself, and I beheld, at last, the 
superb city, once the proud Queen of the Adriatic, rising from the 
bosom of the waves on which she seems rather to float than to 
repose. 

Venice, when I saw her in June 1 796, was still what she had 

* General Berthier was not just then with Buonaparte. 



54 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



been for twelve centuries. The same government, the same cus- 
toms subsisted ; 1 hchekl ancient Venice, althou<i^h her existence 
Mas ahnost at an end. It was therefore with Hvely interest that I 
visited her squares, her churches, and above all her ducal palace, 
and the halls which had witnessed so many great and sanguinary 
measures ; the secret tribunals, the terrible prisons ; mute walls 
\vhich, though about to fall, were still standing, eloquent of 
remembrances which strike the imagination with that terror which 
they can no longer inspire. The powerful institutions which had 
so long sustained that formidable government, now shaken to their 
foundations by the French Revolution and the presence of our 
armies, were tottering, and could no more support the grand edi- 
fice ; the least shock must bring it to the ground. Nothing, in- 
deed, was changed in appearance, but everything was about to 
change, and a presentiment of this was universally felt. 

After having passed a few days at Venice, where I did not meet 
the Minister of the French Republic, M. Lallemant, but where IM. 
Jacob, the Secretary of Legation, took the greatest pains to gratify 
my curiosity, I set out on my return to Florence. When I had 
passed the Adige and the Po, I resolved on continuing my route 
by Ferrara and Bologna. The Pope was at this period endeavour- 
ing to obtain an armistice, which was concluded shortly afterwards. 
The strict orders by which Frenchmen were forbidden to enter the 
Papal States had already been modified. I was not, therefore, in 
any way impeded, and although I stayed but a few hours at 
Bologna, the Governor, on being informed of my arrival, sent to 
offer me any facilities 1 might desire for the continuance of my 
journey. I thanked him, and passing the Apennines on the fol- 
lowing day reached Florence on the 25th Prairial (June 13). 

Great changes had taken place in the Tuscan Government dur- 
ing my short absence. The Grand Duke, alarmed by our suc- 
cesses, trembling for Leghorn, and aware that the Directory was 
not satisfied with the reparation he had already made, had 
resolved, in hopes of dispelling the storm which he saw was com- 
ing, to givt the conduct of Foreign Affairs to Signor Fossombroni, 
one of his chamberlains, who had acquired a distinguished repu- 
tation in mathematical science.* By this arrangement he ter- 
minated the correspondence between the French Legation and 
Signor Serrati, a correspondence w-hich had become more than 
ever strained and intricate owing to the dislike that Serrati, as Gov- 
ernor of Leghorn, had always evinced for the French, and his 

* Signor Fossombroni is the author of a highly esteemed work, pub- 
lished at Avezzo in 1731, entitled, " Saggio di Ricerche suU' Intensita del 
Lume." 



AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW. 55 

extreme partiality for the English. But although the new arrange- 
ment was agreeable to us in that respect, it produced no change 
in the mind of the Cabinet. Signor Fossombroni was evidently 
only an intermediary between us and Signor Serrati, whose influ- 
ence still existed, and who, in fact, really regulated the conduct of 
affairs. 

Meanwhile the causes of complaint to which the weakness of the 
Tuscan officials at Leghorn had given rise, far from diminishing, 
increased, and excited great discontent among the French, It 
looked as if the officials were acting in concert with the persons 
who, for other reasons than those stated above, were urging the 
Commander-in-Chief to an expedition on Leghorn. The danger 
to Tuscany was evident, and I soon perceived that it was no 
longer possible either to avert it, or preserve the neutrality of the 
country. The French army was approaching in two columns ; 
one was advancing on Reggio by the new Apennine route, and 
was approaching Pistoja, the other was marching on Bologna. 
Thus our troops were on the point of entering the territory of the 
Grand Duke. No hope of preventing the violation of the treaty 
remained, all that could be done was to regulate the movement 
and to see that it caused as little damage and disorder as possible. 
I had received from Buonaparte, as he had promised me, an inti- 
mation of his arrival at Bologna, and I waited upon him in that 
town on the 4th Messidor (June 22). He was conversing with 
General Berthier when I was shown in. Berthier was, like myself, 
a native of Versailles ; I had been very familiar with him dur- 
ing my childhood and youth, and we addressed each other with 
our old intimacy, using the ' ' thou' ' and ' ' thee. ' ' Buonaparte 
remarked this, and when he had dismissed Berthier, said he 
wished to have a private conversation with me. Before entering 
on this, he asked me, " How long have you known Berthier, I 
see you are very familiar with him ?" I explained in a few words. 
*' Very well," he answered, " but do you, like so many people, 
believe what I have read in the country newspapers, that it is to 
Berthier that I owe my success, that he directs my plans, and that 
I only execute what he has suggested to me ?" * 

" Not at all," I replied ; " I know him too well to attribute to 
him a kind of ability which he does not possess. And if he did, 
most decidedly he would not give up the glory of it to you !" 
** You are right," answered Buonaparte with warmth, " Berthier 
is not capable of commanding a battalion l"]- He stopped there, 

* Some certain foreign newspapers, in order to lessen Buonaparte's 
glory, delighted to represent him as the pupil of Berthier, who certainly 
was at least fifteen years older than he. 

f In these words there was perhaps exaggeration, and certainly ill- 



56 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and we began to discuss the object of my journey seriously. This 
inter\iew lasted a long time, and he heard me with great attention. 
I explained to him in detail my reasons for insisting on the ob- 
sen-ance of the neutnility of Tuscany. " What arc you going to 
do V I asked him. " You are departing from the real object of 
the war, instead of pursuing the Austrians in their retreat, and 
going either through Tyrol or by Styria to threaten Austria with 
the presence of a victorious army as 1 proposed in the despatches 
which I have written to Paris. By withdrawing from Upper Italy 
you give the enemy time to breathe and to put a fresh army into 
the field, larger than that which you have just so completely and 
gloriously defeated. In the meanwhile, as you must occupy Leg- 
horn and maintain your line of communication with that town, 
you weaken yourself by the necessity of leaving a portion of your 
forces there. And do not be deceived ; you will not gain the ad- 
vantages you expect from the occupation of Leghorn. A large 
part of the wealth that the English possess there has already been 
removed or hidden.. No sooner will you have entered the port of 
Leghorn, than the English will enter Porto-Ferrajo,* and we shall 
have no right to complain of a violation of neutrality, of which we 
ourselves shall have set the example. Of course, notwithstanding 
the precautions of the English merchants, there will still be mer- 
chandize and property of theirs in Leghorn. Seals will be put on 
their warehouses ; their goods will be sold ; but who profit by 
those seizures and sales .'' The Commissioners of the Directory ; 
the crowd of agents who follow your army, attracted by the 
hope of gain. You will be engaged in military operations, which 
must occupy your every moment and your every thought, and you 
will soon lose sight of Leghorn. Frightful abuses will result from 
the occupation, scandalous fortunes will be made, and I shall be 
the reluctant witness of countless transactions dishonouring to the 
French name, but which I shall be powerless either to prevent or 
to punish. Everything will be disguised under the grand names 
of patriotism, insults to avenge, and respect for the national flag. 
Immediately on your departure, a dictatorial power will be estab- 
lished, there will be vexations of all kinds, and the popular feel- 
ing, already averse to us, will become still more inimical. Then 
if the fortune of war should waver for a moment, the French 

humor. It is, however, a fact, that Buonaparte never confided an expe- 
dition to Berthier, nor ever employed him except as Chief of the Staff. 
He did K've him in 179S, when leaving Italy, the command in chief cf 
the army, but, as the reader will see, he did so only to justify the opin- 
ion which he expressed on the occasion of my second interview with him. 
* The English, in fact, seized upon Porto-Ferrajo on 28th Messidor 
(July 11), less than a fortnight after the French entered Leghorn. 



TOO LATE. 57 



would be exposed to the most atrocious reprisals, and neither an 
armistice nor even a treaty of peace could insure their safety." 

* * If I had heard what you had to say sooner, ' ' replied the Gen- 
eral, ** perhaps I should not have given orders for the movement 
that is taking place to-day ; but it is too late now, it has com- 
menced. The Directory is expecting to find mountains of gold at 
Leghorn, and has its head turned. Every one sides with its action ; 
I am powerless. I will try to prevent disorder, you may assure 
the Grand Duke of that. But, then, he must give the strictest 
orders that the troops are to be respected and their wants abun- 
dantly supplied. I shall go to Florence on my return from Leg- 
horn. I shall finish with the Pope to-morrow. I mean to grant 
him an armistice, but on condition that he give us money, paint- 
ings, and statues. If you will go to Rome and undertake the 
execution of the treaty, I will forward it to you from Pistoja, where 
I shall be in two days' time, and where I shall be glad to see you 
again, if your occupations will permit. In any case we shall meet 
at Florence." 

I answered in a few words. The General's intention of treating 
with the Court of Rome proved that, supposing him to have looked 
over the memorandum I had forwarded to him a fortnight pre- 
viously at Brescia, he had not adopted the opinions expressed in 
it. To treat with the Pope was to recognise his power, and to 
guarantee in some sort his existence both as Prince and as Pontiff. 
I pointed this out to him, but he evaded an explanation, and I 
perceived that he had no intention of taking advantage of our vic- 
tories to destroy the double power of the Holy See, and that, not- 
withstanding the sacrifices he was about to exact from the Papal 
Court, he was careful to maintain the principle of its existence and 
anxious for its safety. Was he already thinking of the use which 
he would one day make of it ? That he was, cannot be proved ; 
but subsequent events have shown that the conjecture is at least 
plausible. 

Seeing therefore that there was nothing more to be done to ad- 
vance the principal object of my journey, that the neutrality of 
Tuscany was to be violated, and that Rome would escape with the 
sacrifice of some money and pictures, I confined myself to requesting 
Buonaparte that he would at least, when he moved the columns of 
his army, avoid sending any troops through Florence. I represented 
to him that the Grand Duke was particularly anxious to spare his 
capital the inconveniences and in a sense the shame of foreign 
troops passing through it, and that it seemed to me to be right to 
satisfy him on this point. The General gave me his promise, and 
we parted. In the course of the day I saw the Commissioners of 
the Directory, Salicetti and Garrau. They purposed following 



58 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the march of the army to Leghorn, and announced to me that after 
having regulated the affairs of the administraliun they would come 
in their turn to visit me at Florence. 1 entered into no particu- 
lars with them ; and left Bologna on the following morning, 5th 
Messidor, year 111. (June 2^, 1795). I arrived at Florence on 
the same day. 

I found the Government there in a state of the greatest alarm. 
Notwithstanding the promise made to me at Bologna, a column 
of the French army was marching on Florence, and in two days' 
time was to pass through the city. The excitement was extreme, 
and the conjuncture all the more unfortunate, that the passage of 
the troops would occur on the Feast of St. John, which is cele- 
bmted with great pomp at Florence, that Saint being the patron 
of the city.* 

I saw the Grand Duke on the morning of the 6th Messidor 
(June 24) at a place which he had appointed in the Boboli Gar- 
dens. I protested to him that I had received a positive promise 
from General Buonaparte that no troops of any kind should pass 
through his capital, that I suspected there must be some misun- 
derstanding about the order, but that I was going to send off a 
courier and had no doubt it would be countermanded. In fact, 
the courier on his return brought me a despatch from the Chief of 
the Staff which informed me that through an official mistake only, 
some troops had been ordered to pass through Florence, and that 
the error had been rectified. 

Meanwhile the French army destined for the occupation of Leg- 
horn had entered Tuscan territory by way of Pistoja on the 5th Mes- 
sidor, and Buonaparte, who was already in the town, sent me his 
aide-de-camp, Marmont, on the 8th, with a letter announcing to the 
Grand Duke that the Executive Directory had ordered a march on 
Leghorn. To that information the General added, that, although 
forced to take this step by the repeated insults which the national 
flag had suffered in Leghorn at the hands of the English, the 
French Government desired to maintain friendly relations with 
Tuscan)', f 

The aide-de-camp was also the bearer of a letter for me from 

* On the Feast of St. John, the Grand Duke with his Court proceeds 
in the morning to the Palazzo-V^ecchio square, to receive the homage of 
the magistrates of Florence and of the other towns of his States. On the 
eve of the Feast, also, he is present in great state at the horse-races, 
which attract vast crowds. On these two days in the year, only, does 
the Court of Tuscany, which is very simple in its habits, display any 
magnificence. 

f This letter, together with the answer made to it by Fossoiiibroni in 
the name of the Grand Duke, may be found in the " Gazette de Flor- 
ence," of Tuesday, June 2S, 1796. 

% 



berthier's letter. 59 

Berthier. He informed me that General Buonaparte wished to 
see me, but that I must come that same night, because he in- 
tended to leave early on the morning of the 9th for Leghorn. I 
could not start, accompanied by Marmont, until very late on the 
night of the 8th, and I learned at Prato that the General had al- 
ready gone on. I went no further, therefore, but returned to 
Florence, where I waited to see him on his way back from Leghorn. 
The French army, which had begun to move on the 6th Messi- 
dor, was advancing on Leghorn from Pistoja, without crossing the 
territory of the Republic of Lucca, although that route, being the 
shortest, seemed the most natural.* On the 9th Messidor (June 
27) a division of cavalry reached the gates of the town. The officer 
in command having presented himself at the house of Spanocchi, 
the Governor, was at first coldly received ; but after a few difficul- 
ties, which were promptly settled, the troops entered the town and 
made themselves masters of the most important positions. A 
proclamation was placarded to tranquillise the inhabitants, whose 
hostile feelings toward the French were freely manifested. Buona- 
parte arrived that evening, and ordered the arrest of the Tuscan 
Governor, of whose conduct the general of the vanguard had com- 
plained. The following is a letter which Berthier sent me by one 
of his aides-de-camp to inform me of these events. With it came 
a letter from Buonaparte to the Grand Duke. 

" Headquarters, • Leghorn, loth Messidor, 

" Year IV. of the French Republic, 

" One and Indivisible. 

* ' The Chief of the Staff to his friend Miot. 

** Everything here, my dear friend, is going on well. The late 
Governor played scapegoat for all. He certainly showed very 
different feelings towards us from those evinced by His Royal 

* M. Redon de Belleville, then Consul of the Republic at Leghorn, as- 
sured me some time after the occupation of that town, that good treat- 
ment for Lucca had been dearly bought by the magistrates of the Repub- 
lic. According to information which he had obtained, a sum of from 
;^240,ooo to ;^28o,ooo was placed by the Commissioners of Lucca in the 
hands of an agent of Salicetti, at a house in the suburbs of Leghorn. 
This agent was the elder Arena. He was a compatriot of the Commis- 
sioner of the Directory, and had been a member of the Convention. He 
was appointed afterwards one of the Council of the Five Hundred, and 
on the i8th Brumaire, year VIII. , was one of those deputies who most 
strenuously opposed the designs of Buonaparte. His brother, Joseph 
Arena, afterwards played a part in the conspiracy of Ceracchi, year IX., 
and perished on the scaffold. I do not know how far the truth of the 
fact I relate may be relied on, but I am certain that M. de Belleville was 
incapable of inventing it. The immense fortune that Salicetti made in 
Italy gives it probability. 



Co MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



Highness. After you have read the letter of the Commander-in 
Chief to the Grand Duke, send it on to him as quickly as possible. 

" The Commander-in-Chief will reach Florence the day after to- 
morrow. We shall come to your house. He desires me to tell 
you that he expects you to give a grand ball and supper. I sin- 
cerely hope that our ambassador will display dignity and magnifi- 
cence worthy of the French Republic. 1 must tell you that we 
want to be put up at the Legation. 

" Adieu. I embrace you. My aide-de-camp will tell you all I 
have left unsaid. 

" Alexander Berthier." 

I handed Buonaparte's letter to the Grand Duke, excused as 
well as I could the violence used towards the Governor of Leg- 
horn, and announced the speedy arrival of the General. The 
Grand Duke received these communications with ill-concealed 
concern, but at the same time with resignation. He told me that 
he would give orders. for the reception of the General with the 
honour due to his rank, and spoke to me with the greatest admi- 
ration of his military talent and of the glory he had acquired by his 
i victories. I assured him on my side that the General would 
hasten to solicit the honour of being presented to him, and the au- 
dience, equally painful for both parties, was brought to a close — 
coldly, but without any rupture. 

Buonaparte, according to promise, reached Florence on the 
1 2th Messidor, year IV. (June 30, 1796), at about seven in the 
evening.* He alighted at the palace in which I lived, f whither 
the Grand Duke had sent a company of infantry with a flag to 
receive him. He was accompanied by General Berthier and two 
aides-de-camp, Murat and Leclerc ; and escorted by a picket of 
dragoons. I received him and his staff into my house, and thus 
there was no need to quarter any one in the town. The soldiers 
were lodged in a vast orangery belonging to the gardens of the 
Ximenes Palace. The inhabitants of Florence were thus in no 
way inconvenienced by the presence of the French dragoons, and 
all vexatious incidents were avoided. I had invited a great many 
people to dinner, and there was a crowd at my house, both before 
and after the play. Curiosity to see a man who had accomplished 
such prodigious exploits attracted great numbers to the theatres ; 
the streets through which Buonaparte passed, from the San Fridi- 
ano Gate, by which he entered, to the Pitti Gate, near which I 

* He had remained on the 29th of June at San Miniato, where Canon 
Philippe Buonaparte, one of his relatives, lived. He left San Miniato 
again on the 30th. 

f Palazzo Ximenes, via Porta Pitti. 



BUONAPARTE AND THE GRAND DUKE. 6 1 

lived, a distance forming the diameter of the town, were filled with 
the whole population, who flocked from every quarter to behold the 
spectacle. His was truly a triumphant entry, although no shouts 
were uttered by the multitude, and astonishment rather than ad- 
miration prevailed over every other sentiment in the reception of 
the conqueror. 

The next mornmg I accompanied him to the Court and presented 
him to the Grand Duke,* with whom he conversed for some time. 

His Imperial Highness invited the General to dinner, and left 
it to him to name the officers of his staff to whom he desired the 
same honor to be extended. The dinner took place, but the 
Grand Duchess, pleading an indisposition, did not appear. The 
Grand Duke placed my wife on his right hand, and Buonaparte 
on his left. A few ladies of the Court were present. After dinner 
the General took leave of the Grand Duke, and we went down 
with him into the Boboli Gardens, where a courier, arriving from 
headquarters, handed him despatches announcing the surrender of 
the fortress of Milan. I had arranged to give the ball he had 
wished for on the next day, but he could not stay longer, and left 
at once to return to headquarters by way of Bologna. In the 
various conversations that I had with Buonaparte during those two 
days, he appeared to me to be intent upon the movernents of the 
Austrians, and very anxious to rejoin his army. I know that it 
was with regret he left troops in Tuscany, although he had reduced 
their number as low as possible. I entreated him to deal as gently 
as he could with the country, so as not to enrage the inhabitants 
at a moment when he had so few men to control their discontent, 
and secure his own line of communications from interruption. 

I suggested to him that he should put forth a proclamation en- 
joining on the superior officers the necessity of the strictest disci- 
pline during the passage of the French troops through Tuscany. 
He consented, and I began to draw it up ; but he was offended 
by a phrase in which I used the expression, ' ' the Commanders of 
the French army,'' and erasing these words with some irritation, he 
told me that the army had but one Coinmander, and that was him- 
self. After several attempts at drawing up the proclamation, he 
resolved to issue it from Bologna, where he was to arrive next day, 
but I heard nothing more of it. Notwithstanding this slight cloud, 
we parted on very good terms, and from that time forward our 
correspondence was carried on in a confidential and friendly spirit, 
which subsisted between us for a long time. 

* Fourteen years after, in 1811, I saw this same Grand Duke, at the 
Tuileries, standing unnoticed amid the crowd who besieged the doors of 
Buonaparte, now become Emperor and King, and awaiting, with the 
other courtiers, the hour of his *' lever." 



62 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

After the General's departure for Northern Italy, the Commis- 
sioners of the Directory, who had remained at Leghorn, placed 
seals on the English property there, sold part of it, and used the 
rest for the supply of the army. But as 1 was in no way concerned 
in these financial transactions, 1 can give no details on the sub- 
ject. When the preliminary arrangements had been made, the two 
Commissioners, Salicetti and Garrau, came to spend a few days at 
Florence. Madame Buonaparte, who was curious to see the 
town, also arrived there a short time afterwards. On that occasion 
I renewed my acquaintance with her. I had met her in society at 
Paris, but not often, and I had formed an estimate of her which 
my increased intimacy with her during her stay at Florence only 
served to confirm. Never has any woman united greater kindness 
of heart with greater natural grace, never has any woman done 
more good with more pleasure than she. She honoured me with 
her friendship, and the recollection of the kindness she showed me 
until the last moments of her too brief existence w^ill never be 
erased from my heart. 

When my guests had departed, I began to prepare to leave 
Florence for Rome. But in order to explain the motives of this 
journey, I must go back a little in my narrative. 

At the commencement of the war in Italy, and especially when 
the temporary success of the Austrians in the Riviera of Genoa, 
under General de Vins, during the month of Messidor, year III. 
(July 1795), had restored confidence to the Powers inimical to 
France, the Pope had taken an active part in the war, and once 
more roused against us the same populace which in January 1793 
had murdered Consul Basseville. After that event, no French 
agent had remained at Rome ; our artists had all sought refuge at 
Florence, and we had thus been three years without holding any 
communication with Rome. When Spain recognised and entered 
into a treaty with the French Republic, on the 4th Thermidor, 
year III. (July 22, 1795), a share of the hatred that we inspired 
devolved on the Spaniard, and his residence in Rome soon became 
unbearable to the Chevalier d'Azara, ambassador from Spain to 
the Holy See. 

He also established himself at Florence, in the spring of 1796, 
and I then enjoyed the advantage of intimacy with that cultivated 
lover of the fine arts, who had adopted Rome as his second father- 
land. He was a sincere friend to Fmnce, and shared our joy at 
the victories of our troops, while he at once foresaw that our suc- 
cess would occasion a change of language, if not of feeling, at the 
Court of Rome. He was not mistaken, and he was soon solicited, 
by the very Court which had in some sort exiled him, to employ 
his own best endeavours and the mediation of Spain, whom he rep- 



THE TREATY WITH ROME. 63 

resented in Italy, to obtain a suspension of hostilities until peace 
could be definitively arranged. M. d'Azara, having accepted this 
honourable mission, came to the Commander-in-Chief at Bologna, 
accompanied by M. Antonio Guendy, whom the Pope had ap- 
pointed his Minister Plenipotentiary. I saw them both on the 4 th 
Messidor at Bologna, and on the next day, the 5th (June 2^, 
1 796), the armistice was signed in the name of the Pope, by the 
Chevalier d'Azara and M. Guendy, and in the name of the French 
Republic by Buonaparte, Salicetti, and Garrau. The Pope un- 
dertook to pay twenty-one millions of Roman lire, and to hand 
over to France one hundred pictures, busts or statues, together 
with five hundred manuscripts.* The matter in hand was to get 
this armistice carried out, its conditions being very hard, and not 
as yet ratified by the Pope, f Buonaparte, as I have before said, 
had already informed me that he wished me to undertake the busi- 
ness, and had caused a copy of the treaty to be sent to me from 
Pistoja. He persisted in this resolution when at Bologna, and 
sent me, through Berthier, an official intimation that I was to re- 
pair to Rome. The Chevalier d'Azara, having returned from 
Bologna, was still at Florence when the despatch reached me, and 
I communicated it to him. He seemed pleased to find himself 
associated with me in matters of a delicate nature and requiring 
much moderation and good management. We had no troops in 
the neighbourhood of Rome, nor would we in any case have had 
recourse to force. He advised me, therefore, to delay my jour- 
ney for a few days, that he might have time to precede me to 
Rome, whither he would repair without delay, and whence he 
would write to me. I took his advice, and a few days afterwards 
I received the following letter from him : 

Rome, July 14. 

" I reached Rome yesterday, having got through my journey 
satisfactorily, notwithstanding my bad state of health. You can 
easily imagine that since my arrival I have been occupied only 
with your journey. I have seen the Pope, and have informed him 
of all that you and I agreed on. You may set out therefore, and 

* The following is the text of the 8th Article of the Treaty, containing 
the agreement in question : " The Pope shall deliver up to the Republic 
at the choice of the Commissioners who shall be sent to Rome, one hun- 
dred pictures, busts, vases or statues ; among which will be included the 
bronze bust of Junius Brutus and the marble bust of Marcus Aurelius, 
both in the Capitol, also five hundred manuscripts, at the choice of the 
said Commissioners." It is to be remarked that the first Article states 
that the French Government consents to treat only in order to give a 
proof of its deference to the wishes of His Majesty the King of Spain. 

f The ratification, although dated June 27, was not then made known. 
It was handed over to me at Rome in July. 



64 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

you will not meet with the slightest obstacle, either on your road, 
or in Rome. \'ou will come to the Hotel de Sarmiento, opposite 
the Spanish Embassy. 

" Immediately on your arrival, we will meet and arrange 
together all that is to be done. I will introduce you to the 
Secretary of State ; afterwards you shall visit the Pope, and I 
hope you will be satisfied with everybody. So far as 1 am con- 
cerned, you may rely on my desire to serve you and to ensure the 
success of your mission. I am anxious to embrace you, and to 
prove to you the interest I take in yourself personally, and the 
friendship I feel for you," &c. 

Some few days before this letter reached me, the Marquis Mas- 
simo, the Pope's envoy for the negotiation of a definitive peace, 
had arrived at Florence, and I had seen him. He had assured 
me that his Holiness' s dispositions were most pacific, and that no 
obstacle would be offered to the carrying out of the armistice. Re- 
assured, therefore, on all sides as to the success ol my mission, and 
no longer detained in any way at Florence, where I left the Com- 
missioners appointed by the French Government to collect objects 
of art in Italy,* with injunctions to join me as soon as possible, 
I started on the 30th Messidor (July 18), and reached Rome on 
the 3d Thermidor (July 21). M. d'Azara came as far as Ponte 
Molle to meet me, where I got into his carriage, and I entered 
the city with him in the midst of an immense crowd, who followed 
me with unfriendly glances, and whose traditional enmity was 
aroused by the tricolour-cockade in my hat, and in the hats of the 
persons who composed my suite. 

Rome, at that time, presented a very singular and revolting 
spectacle. A gloomy fanaticism, kindled by the monks and fed 
by absurd fables, had filled the minds of all. 

The populace was exclusively absorbed in religious practices, and 
listening to fanatical preachers, and the higher classes of society 
dared not hold themselves aloof. The streets were choked with 
long files of priests or monks, walking in procession and followed 
by enormous crowds. Men's imaginations were excited, and only 
dwelt on marvels, on murders and on vengeance. Far from quiet- 
ing this commotion, the Government secretly encouraged it, re- 
garding it as their strongest safeguard against the propagation of 
revolutionary principles, which they dreaded above all things. My 
presence and that of a few other Frenchmen, in the midst of a 

* This Commission comprised MM. Monge, Berthollet, Thomir, Bar- 
th61emy the painter, Moitlc the sculptor, and Tinet, draughtsman and 
painter. 



PIUS VI. 65 

people ready at any moment to commit the greatest excesses, could 
not but increase the popular excitement, and I perceived that there 
would be no safety either for my countrymen or myself if the terror 
inspired by our victories and the near neighbourhood of our armies 
were dispelled fgr even a single day, or if the fortune of war 
ceased for one instant to be favourable to us. The latter contingency 
arose. The news of Wiirmser's arrival at the head of a second 
Austrian army had revived all the hopes of our enemies. His suc- 
cess was considered certain ; it was announced beforehand, 
although no operations were as yet begun, and the siege of Man- 
tua was carried on uninterruptedly. 

We, in the heart of Italy, already felt the consequences of these 
ominous reports, and we might have been seriously endangered 
before the news of the victories which soon after lent a new lustre 
to French arms had once more filled the people with that terror 
which was our only security. 

I must, however, do justice to the conduct of the Pope's Govern- 
ment toward me. Although the reports abroad were of a nature 
to make it less docile in the carrying out of the armistice just con- 
cluded at Bologna, I did not at first meet with all the difficulties I 
expected. The Chevalier d'Azara, who seconded me admirably at 
each step I took, accompanied me to the Secretary of State, Car- 
dinal Zelada, who gave me a positive assurance of the payment of 
the first instalment of the contribution which the Court of Rome 
was to furnish, by virtue of Article 9 of the armistice, and, in fact, 
I received proof that this first instalment was on its way to Bologna. 
I obtained also, and on the spot, the liberation of certain men 
who had been imprisoned for their political opinions, and of 
whom General Buonaparte had sent me a list. 

On the next day, after my interview with the Secretary of State, 
I was conducted by M. d'Azara to the Monte Cavallo* Palace, 
to have an audience of the Pope. I was accompanied by M, 
Freville, Secretary to the Legation. We each wore the uniform of 
the National Guard. The Pope was seated on a dais, raised one 
step from the ground, with a canopy. In front of him was a table 
on which were a number of papers, writing-materials, and a bell. 
When I was announced by the chamberlain, who drew back the 
door-hangings, his Holiness rose, came down from the dais, and 
advanced to meet me. M. d'Azara made a genuflection on en- 
tering ; I only bowed profoundly, and the Pope, having taken 
me by the hand, led me up to the dais, where he resumed his 
place, and, pointing to a seat on his left hand lower than his own, 

* Formerly the Quirinal Hill. The Pope resides there in summer, the 
air being more salubrious than at the Vatican. 



66 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

invited mc by a q-esture to be seated. M. Fr^ville sat near me, 
and the Chevalier d'Azara opposite the Holy Father's writing- 
table. PiiisM., although he had reached an advanced age, was 
still a remarkably handsome man. He was distinguished by an 
elegant and well-proportioned figure, and a countenance full of 
nobility and mildness. He lacked none of the outward gifts of 
Nature, and it was impossible to approach him without a feeling 
of respectful admiration. This, at least, was the sentiment which 
I experienced on seeing him. The conversation was in Italian. 
I assured the Pope that, in carrying out the conditions of the ar- 
mistice, I would do all in my power to render them less onerous, 
while I ventured to hope, in return, that his Holiness would deign 
to give orders that the Commissioners who had been entrusted with 
the selection of the works of art should have all needful facilities 
for fulfilling their mission. " I will do so," he answered eagerly ; 
*' the execution of these conditions is a sacred thing (<? cosa sacro- 
san/ii]. Rome will still be rich enough in objects of Art, and I 
do not think that in making this sacrifice I have bought the peace 
of my States too dear. Here," added his Holiness, " is the rati- 
fication of the treaty. I wished to hand it over to you myself, in 
order to convince you that I have no repugnance to investing this 
act with my consent."* 

The conversation then turned on more general topics. We 
spoke of Rome, and of all that attracts the curiosity of strangers. 
At last, after an interview of half an hour, the Pope rose to dismiss 
me. 

A few days after this audience the Commissioners whom I had 
left at Florence rejoined me. 

1 found them much alarmed by the reports they had heard every- 
where on the road between Florence and Rome, and by the ill- 
feeling they had observed at the places at which they had stopped. 
I could not wholly tranquillize them ; I myself was anxious, and 
I had received no reassuring despatch either from the headquarters 
of the army or from Florence. 

I advised them, however, to set about the mission entrusted to 
them ; I put them in communication with the Pope's agents, and 
it was those same agents whom they employed to pack the valuable 
works which they selected. 

In the brief leisure afforded by my numerous occupations, I 
visited Rome and made myself acquainteii with the neighbouring 
country. But I could barely satisfy the most urgent demands of 
my curiosity. When I visited Italy ten years later, and made a 
longer stay in Rome in more tranquil times, I had an opportunity of 

* The ratification, correctly drawn up, was signed Pius Papa VI. 
% 



A DESPATCH TO THE MINISTER. 6/ 

thoroughly investigating that famous city. I shall therefore defer 
speaking of it until I shall have reached the later period of my 
narrative. 

While the animosity of the Italian people to us was revived by 
the first report of our reverses, which their enmity led them to re- 
ceive as certainly true, a few men of sounder sense, and many 
others stimulated by private dislike, and especially by ambition to 
play a part in the history of their country, had hastened to the 
Commander-in-Chief, and even to Paris, with plans of revolution 
in Italy, and claimed the intervention of the French to help them 
to upset absolute government and, as they expressed it, to restore 
liberty to their country. 

The importunity of these patriots, who displayed no less enthu- 
siasm in their republican fanaticism than did the rest of their 
fellow-citizens in their religious fanaticism, made an impression on 
the Executive Directory, which was already disposed toward politi- 
cal proselytism, and I foresaw that if Buonaparte would lend a 
helping hand, it would not be disinclined to let this leaven of 
Revolution ferment, and to aid its development. A despatch 
which I received during my stay at Rome, revealed this to me. 
It contained one leading query : " Is it possible, is it desirable for 
the French Republic to republicanise Italy ?" I was perhaps bet- 
ter able than any political agent to discuss this question. I was in 
the heart of Italy. I had lived more than a year in the country ; 
I had closely observed the conduct and the feelings of the people 
and their governments in the various positions we had held towards 
them, whether as victors or as vanquished ; I knew how much 
either of submission or resistance we had to expect from them. I 
believed it therefore to be my duty to put forward the opinions 
which circumstances had led me to form. 

As I also desire to clear my character of the suspicion that during 
my stay in Italy I was guilty of parcicipating in acts of violence or 
in breaches of faith, which, on the contrary, I always resisted or 
blamed, I will here copy the reply which I made to the question 
put to me by the Minister of Exterior Relations. That reply is 
dated Rome, 9th Thermidor, year IV. (July 27, 1796). 

*' Citizen Minister. 

** I have received your letter of 29th Messidor since my arrival 
in this city. I will devote mine to answering the questions you 
address to me, by placing before you the result of the observations 
I have made on the state of public feeling in Italy, on the resources 
it offers, and on the use that may be made of it for the conception 
or the establishment of a new political system in the countries that 
have been subjugated by French arms. My further residence in 



6S MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Rome may furnish me with additional means of clearing up many 
difhculties and of forming a more general opinion. 

" The chief question which is put to me, is the following : * Is ^ 
it possible, is it desirable for the French Republic to republicanise 
Italy ? ' The second part of this question depends clearly on the ; 
first ; for it is evident that if such a change were possible it would 
certainly be desirable. All that is required, therefore, is to exam- 
ine that possibility. 

" If by the word republicanise is to be understood the establish- 
ment of a system of government founded on the same principles 
as our own, resting merely on such simple bases as those of politi- 
cal liberty and equality, and divested of all prejudices, I do not see 
as yet any means of attaining that end in Italy. We shall doubt- 
less find a few sincere persons, but many others moved by private 
interests, and especially by a spirit of revenge, who will be anx- 
ious to persuade us that a complete revolution is possible and even 
easy. A cursory examination of the means they propose to em- 
ploy, the monstrous alliance they would attempt between supersti- 
tion and policy, the use they would actually venture to make of 
that execrable weapon in order to found a revolution, will, how- 
ever, show how impracticable it would be as yet — in the full com- 
pleteness I have just sketched out, and the Directory cannot be too 
much on its guard against such projects. 

" If, on the contrary, in order to make our victories conducive 
to our true interests, we confine ourselves in the present state of 
Italy to practicable political changes which will be useful to its 
inhabitants, the question, from that point of view, becomes more 
interesting and its discussion assumes real importance. 

" You will remember. Citizen Minister, what I have stated in 
my correspondence as to the object which I believed should be 
aimed at in the war of Italy. 

*' To wrest his possessions in this part of Europe from the Em- 
peror, to lessen the power of the Pope, since we can no longer 
think of destroying it altogether ;* these were the principal results 
to which I pointed as the fruits of our victories. 

" We have now the means of obtaining these two great results. 
We hold the country round Milan ; the legations of Bologna and 
Eerrara are in our hands. 

** To remove those beautiful and fertile provinces forever from 
the domination of Austria and the Popes, is to attain as com- 
pletely as possible the aim that we ought to propose to ourselves. 

" It now becomes necessary to inquire under what government 

* From the moment that we treated with him we acknowledged his 
Government, and we could not, without flagrant breach of faith, seek to 
overthrow it. 

\ 



A DESPATCH TO THE MINISTER. 69 



i^e must leave these countries, which we cannot and ought not 
retain. 

*' That which has been done in Holland may serve us as a 
uide here. We have delivered Lombardy, Bologna and Ferrara 
rom a despotic government, but we have no desire to violate their 
ndependence. It is for their inhabitants and not for us to make 
L revolution, and this distinction appears to me to be of the great- 
;st importance. It is not for us to dictate laws for them, still less 
o impose on them our own. Let us watch their progress in the 
jxercise of the power we have restored to them, but let us not take 
m ourselves the task of directing it. Let them seek, while pro- 
ected and defended by a Power which watches over their safety, 
m organisation suited to their genius, and their religious opinions, 
n harmony with the ideas circulating among them ; our part is to 
appose the intrigues of a party who would bring them again under 
he yoke that we have broken ' but not to force forward fruits of a 
iind which the climate can not as yet produce. 

' ' The first step towards this result — the only one that appears to 
DC desirable — would be a precise statement on the part of the 
Directory, declaring that these provinces shall never be restored to 
heir former masters by any treaties concluded by the Republic. 
Until this is done, we can hardly hope that they themselves will 
take a decisive part ; and even if they did, they would afterwards 
find themselves without sufficient means to resist the attacks which 
might be made upon them. 

' The Directory is probably not as yet prepared to make such a 
declaration. A moderate policy therefore, such as I have indi- 
cated above, seems to me the right course to follow. In any case, 
I think we must not for a long time abandon the forms of military 
government in the countries we have conquered in Italy ; and that 
without forcing on the organisation of a new national government 
which would be without the necessary resources for self-main- 
tenance, we should allow it to develop itself under our eyes. And 
when a general peace shall have secured the independence of 
those provinces, it will still be desirable for our interests to main- 
tain our garrisons in them for a long time, or at any rate, in order 
to avoid any reproach from other nations of violating this same 
independence, to leave some French troops in the pay of the sepa- 
rate governments which will have been formed. Such, in my 
opinion, is the only means of consolidating the task we shall have 
accomplished, and a sound policy demands that amid so much 
enmity and so many passions directed which unhappily will not be 
completely quieted by the peace in Italy, we should continue to 
keep before her eyes a portion of the armies which have terrified 
and conquered her. 



70 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

" A complete revolution in Italy is, to my mind, impossible 
If in the present state of public feeling such a revolution coult 
take place, it would be terrible, owing to the excesses to whicl 
fierce and unprincipled men would abandon themselves. I 
would not result in any advantage to humanity or in the welfan 
of society, because it would be the w^ork of fanaticism and revenge 

" But a change of government in the conquered States, th< 
establishment of a new order of things, modified according to lh( 
surrounding circumstances, is both possible and desirable." 

To this letter I received no reply. Subsequent events have 
made it plain that the ideas of moderation and respect for tht 
independence of peoples, which I had put forward, were not well 
received. 

I had been two weeks in Rome, and, although the business oi 
the execution of the conditions of the armistice was going on, I 
perceived that for some days past the Government had been acting 
in the matter with dilatoriness that led me to suspect that, being 
better informed than I of what was taking place in Upper Italy, 
they flattered themselves that the reverses we were sustaining there 
might eventually dispense them from keeping their promises. 
The darkest rumours were secretly spread about, and, as I had no 
means of refuting them, I soon found myself in a position as false 
as it was dangerous. 

Things were in this state, when Cacault,* an agent of the French 
Republic, who had remained in Italy without ostensible tide since 
1793, arrived at Rome from headquarters. He brought me two 
letters, one from Buonaparte and one from Berthier. The first, 
on the supposition that I had not yet left Florence, advised me to 
remain there, and to delegate to Cacault the task of superintending 
the execution of the armistice concluded with the Pope. This 
change of plans was evidently the result of some manoeuvres of 
Cacault, who had wished for this post, and easily persuaded Buo- 
naparte that the numerous acquaintances he had formed at Rome 
would afford him better means of filling it, and other advantages 
which I did not possess. Besides which. Buonaparte, who knew 
my feelings about the Papal (iovernment, and who intended to 
treat it tenderly, was sure of finding in Cacault a more yielding 

* M. Cacault knew Italy, where he had long resided, perfectly well 
He had been ordered to repair to Rome after the assassination of 
Basseville, but not having succeeded in getting there, he had remained at 
Florence, as an agent of the Republic, but without official position until 
my arrival. He successively occupied various diplomatic posts in Italy, 
and on his return to France he was created a Senator in 1S03. He died 
at Clisson in 1805. 



A PERILOUS JOURNEY. 



negotiator than I ; one indeed, inclined by his own private views, 
to second the General's views. 

The other letter, Berthier's, dated, like the first, from the head- 
quarters at Castiglione, on the 3d Thermidor, and consequently 
before the raising of the siege of Mantua, was full of confidence 
and hope of fresh successes. But as it was already twelve days 
old, and more recent news had reached Rome, it had become 
valueless for the purpose of forming any opinion, and I could 
make no kind of use of it. 

However, in spite of the dangers to which a journey in the midst 
of the general ferment produced by the accounts of our reverses, 
magnified by active ill-will, might expose me, I did not hesitate to 
undertake it. I handed over the business to Cacault, and started, 
the very evening of the day of his arrival, on my return journey to 
Florence. 

I had not been misinformed as to the state of feeling throughout 
the Roman territory. I therefore avoided passing through Viterbo, 
where I knew that the excitement was greater than in any other 
part, and took the route through Civita-Castella, Narni, Terni, where 
I stayed a few hours in order to see the celebrated cascade, and 
Spoleto, where I intended to pass the night. But it was impossible 
to carry out my plan ; a furious mob surrounded my carriage, and 
if I had not displayed coolness which took them aback, I should 
probably have been subjected to very bad treatment. I therefore 
merely changed horses, and continued my journey by way of 
Foligno, Assisi, and Perugia.* I entered the Tuscan territory 
through Cortona and Arezzo, and although I was then in a coun- 
try where I bore, so to speak, a sacred character, I saw, by the 
animus displayed by the inhabitants of the last-named town, that 
even that character would barely serve to protect me should we 
cease to be conquerors. As we drove from the gates of Arezzo, 
stones were thrown at my carriage ; but it was dark, and this 
insult had no serious consequences ; my horses quickly placed me 
beyond reach. Finally, I arrived at Florence on the 17th Thermi- 
dor, year IV. (August 4, 1796). 

Profound consternation prevailed among the lew French who 
were then at Florence. For several days the most disastrous ac- 
counts had succeeded each other without interruption, and my first 
interviews with the Tuscan Government convinced me that, if ex- 
aggerated, they were not unfounded. The populace of Florence, 
who until then had taken no decided part, now awoke from the 

* I must do justice here to the Governor of Perugia, who received me 
with the utmost courtesy, and watched over my safety with sedulous 



72 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

calm indifference which characterised them. Inflamed by the 
monks, they began to imitate the Romans ; they also had their 
miracles and their prophecies. Their excessive credulity made 
them accept the most absurd rumours ; they were persuaded that 
I had brought back Buonaparte in my carriage wounded ; that he 
had died at my house, and that I had buried him in my garden. 
An immense crowd collected about my door ; 1 was obliged to 
come out and address them, and I had great difhculty in prevent- 
ing their forcing their way into my house in order to satisfy their 
stupid curiosity. 

'rhis state of alarm lasted for twelve days, and during that time 
the Grand Duke's government acted with such weakness as to 
make it evident to me that, far from wishing to repress the disturb- 
ance, it intended to make use of it to free itself from any remain- 
ing consideration for me, in the event of our sustaining further 
reverses. From the moment that we were or were supposed to be 
no longer formidable, it would have been useless to appeal for 
security to treaties, which had simply been extorted by fear. 

At last, on the 23d and 24th Thermidor (loth and nth 
August), couriers despatched from headquarters made their appear- 
ance, and put an end to our anxieties. During my stay in Rome, 
and my journey thence, hostilities had recommenced in Northern 
Italy, Wiirmser, at the head of a fresh Austrian army, had forced 
Buonaparte to raise the siege of Mantua, leaving all his artillery 
on the spot. But this check, news of which had spread so rapidly, 
had been as quickly repaired by the wonderful victories of Sale, 
Castiglione, and Lonata (17th and 1 8th Thermidor). Never had 
so rapid and complete a change taken place in war ; never had 
such genius, talent, and valour been displayed. A campaign of 
less than ten days' duration had reconquered Italy and routed all 
the projects of our enemies. But in proportion as the news of our 
reverses had been readily believed, did that of our victories meet 
with incredulity, and it was only after the lapse of several months, 
and when the surrender of Mantua ratified, as it were, the bulle- 
tins of our army, that the people were at last induced to credit our 
success. 

For the time being, our reverses had brought back the Powers 
of Italy, to their former policy and their former enmities. The 
negotiations for peace between the Pope and France had been in- 
terrupted,* the conditions of the armistice were no longer carried 
out ; the Commissioners whom I had left at Rome had withdrawn, 

* They were not completely broken off until a month later, the fourth 
complementary day of year IV. (September 20, lyt/)). The Pope de- 
clined any arrangement, nor would he state what were the modifications 
he would have desired in the stipulations of the treaty. 



FRESH VICTORIES. 73 

and come back to Florence to wait for more favourable circum- 
stances and fresh instructions. 

Cacault only remained, and was carrying on some private com- 
munications, the Papal Government not having as yet decided on 
an open rupture. 

Meanwhile, Buonaparte having pursued Wiirmser's army into 
the valley of Adige and Brenta, forced the General to shut himself 
up in Mantua. But another army, commanded by D'Alvinzi, 
soon made its appearance in Italy, and to save this important 
stronghold, opened a fresh campaign, in the course of which the 
engagement at Areola and the battles of Rivoli and Favorita im- 
mortalised the glory of the French arms. 

While military events were thus hastening on, and Victory, still 
undecided, had not declared herself for either side, the difficulties 
of my position increased daily. The Tuscan people openly dis- 
played their dislike to the French. I was grossly insulted several 
times, and my time was entirely occupied in hearing and laying 
before the Grand-Ducal Government the complaints which were 
addressed to me by the French inhabitants of Tuscany. 

At length, being convinced by the facts before my eyes that 
there was no hope of security for the French, nor any real advan- 
tage to be obtained from our victories in Italy so long as the 
House of Austria should possess any of its territory, and that the 
Pope's Government should endure, I resolved on sending M. 
Freville, Secretary of Legation, to Paris, with a despatch, in which 
I laid before the Executive Directory my observations on the state 
of Italy, and stated my views of the direction in which our policy 
should move. 

I will here give a summary of the plan which I had drawn up. 

I pointed out that Austria and Spain had been dominant in suc- 
cession in Italy, but that France had always tried in vain to establish 
a permanent influence in the country ; notwithstanding her victo- 
ries, dominion had invariably slipped from her grasp. 

"Austria, then, was exclusively powerful in Italy before the 
war. Venice was trembling, Genoa was sold, Naples shared in all 
the passions of Austria ; the Pope was at her beck. This brilliant 
structure was overthrown by our first victories. Austria v/ants to 
build it up afresh ; she calls on the people as auxiliaries to her 
army and succeeds in inflaming them ; she is preparing another 
Sicilian Vespers for us in Italy. The various Governments approve 
and second her views. But for our recent victories we should be 
irretrievably lost 

*' At the first wind of our reverses, neutrality disappeared, the 
execution of treaties was suspended. We have therefore acquired 
no guarantee by negotiation, and we can only count on force, or 



74 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

on the establishment of a political system which will be a real 
guarantee. Now, therefore, is the time at which to treat tliis 
question. 

" The first idea that presents itself is to alter the political situa- 
tion of Italy entirely, in a word, to use the language of the day, 
to revolutionise her. I have opposed that solution ; insurrec- 
tion, even rebellion, may be kindled in Italy, but not a revolution. 

" Let that part of Italy which we have conquered adopt a form 
of government of whatever kind, and let us protect it, provided 
these countries detach themselves altogether from Austria and the 
Pope. Let us possess nothing ourselves in Italy, but let us 
acquire influence there, and be a preponderating power only in the 
conquered part. As for the rest of the Peninsula, we must have 
another allied Power with us, which, acting on Rome and Naples, 
will keep them within defined bounds. Let Spain be that power. 

" Spain is alive to her true interests ; she has just made peace 
and allied herself with France ; she will be responsible to us for 
Southern Italy. Let us give to her, or to a Prince of her House, 
those possessions of Austria which form a part of her States in 
Northern Italy, and which we will render independent.* By such 
a political arrangement Leghorn would be in the hands of Spain, 
and the neutrality of that port would no longer be an empty name. 
This plan involves, it is true, a complete rupture with the Grand 
Duke of Tuscany, but he himself has furnished us with a pretext 
for, and a right to it, by his late behaviour." 

Freville left Florence for Paris early in Fructidor, year IV. (mid- 
dle of August, 1796). He had several interviews with the Minis- 
ter of Foreign Affairs, and presented a further development of my 
proposals in a detailed memorandum. In the end they were not 
adopted, and he rejoined me at Florence towards the end of Ven- 
d^miaire, year V. (October, 1796). He was the bearer of a letter 
from the Minister, Charles Lacroix, very flattering to me, but alto- 
gether evasive. I gathered from this letter and from the details 
added by Freville that the French Government desired to remain 
on cool terms with Tuscany, in order to take a decisive step of 
rupture or alliance, according to circumstances, and to be in a 
})Osition to justify either the one or the other. It was easy to sat- 
isfy the Government in this respect. 

The intercourse between the two Cabinets had become more 
strained than ever ; recriminations abounded on our side because 
of the weakness of the Tuscan (jovernment, which allowed its neu- 
trality to be disregarded, and showed itself altogether partial towards 

* This plan was afterwards adopted by Buonaparte, when he created 
the kingdom of FItruria for an Infant of Spain. 

% 



RECRIMINATIONS. 75 



the English ; and on the side of Neri-Corsini, the Grand Duke's 
Minister in Paris, because of the disrespect with which the Tuscan 
Government treated our mihtary commanders and troops at Leg- 
horn. It must be admitted that both sides were in the right. 
The partiaHty of the Tuscan Government towards the EngHsh was 
not more evident than the behaviour of our officers and men toward 
the authorities of the country was insuhing. They acted in defi- 
ance of all rules, or, if the term is preferred, in defiance of every 
popular prejudice. * 

Whether my views as to the line of policy to be pursued in Italy 
had awakened some personal dislike towards me, or whether it was 
thought desirable to appoint an agent in Florence more dependent 
on the Commander-in-Chief than I was — and I have not discov- 
ered which — my mission in Tuscany was drawing to a close. 
Freville had scarcely left Paris, when a decree of the Directory, 
dated the 2d Brumaire, year V. (October 23, 1796), changed all 
the diplomatic corps in Italy. I was appointed Ambassador to 
the Court of Sardinia ; Cacault succeeded me at Florence as Minis- 
ter Plenipotentiary, and Joseph Buonaparte was named resident 
Minister of the French Republic at the Court of the Infant-Duke 
of Parma. I did not, however, receive the decree containing my 
new nomination and its accompanying instructions until five 
months later. I was destined before I reached Turin to undertake 
a troublesome mission, for which I was in no wise prepared. 

Corsica, which had been delivered to the English by Paoli, and 
occupied by them as a fourth kingdom annexed to the crown of 
the King of Great Britain, had just been evacuated by its new mas- 
ters, f They had never succeeded in subduing the interior of the 
island, frequent insurrections had kept them in continual alarm, 
and free communication between the various towns could only be 
effected by sea. The victories of the French army in Italy, under 
the command of one of their countrymen, had redoubled this in- 
ternal ferment in Corsica, and the English had decided on entirely 
abandoning their conquest. In September 1796 they withdrew 
their troops, and also removed from Corsica their chief partisans, 
such as General Paoli, Pozzo di Borgo, Beraldi and others, who 
sought an asylum in England. On the first intelligence of the 
English preparations for evacuating the island, Buonaparte 
despatched General Gentili thither at the head of two or three hun- 
dred, banished Corsicans, and with this little band Gentili took 

* General HuUin, in command at Leghorn, celebrated the fete of the 
loth of August there with a brilliant military display. Nothing could be 
more offensive to the Tuscans, nor more uncalled-for by the French. 

f The crown of Corsica was carried to London in October 1794 by four 
Corsican deputies. 



76 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT HE MELITO. 

possession of the principal str()n,u:li(^kls. The island being thus 
restored to the rule of France, it became indispensable to provide 
temporarily for its civil administration and to prepare for the estab- 
lishment of the constitution. Salicetti, Commissi()ner of the 
Directory, with the army of Italy, hastened to assume those func- 
tions, and had alreatly repaired to Corsica, where he was beginning 
to exercise them. But the Directory had felt that it would not do 
to leave them in the hands of a man born in the island, having 
personal injuries to avenge, and who, even supposing him to be a 
impartial in the conduct of affairs, could never persuade his coun- 
trymen that he was so. An administrator had therefore to be j 
found, who should be an entire stranger to the country, having no I 
interests but that of restoring order, healing quarrels, and bringing 
Corsica as soon as possible under the laws and institutions com- 
mon to the rest of France. The choice fell on me, and on the I 
5th Frimaire, year V. (November 25, 1796), I received a decree 
of the Executive Directory, dated the 7th Brumaire, appointing me 
Commissioner-Extraordinary of the Government in Corsica, and 
ordering me to proceed thither at once. Accordingly I prepared 
to set out, and left the Legation in the hands of Freville, who suc- 
ceeded me with the title of Charg6 d' Affaires. 

On returning from Corsica on my way to Turin, I stayed at 
Florence for a few days, but without any official character. My 
mission therefore came to an end at the period I have now reached, 
and as I shall have no further occasion to speak of Tuscany, I will 
summarise here in a few lines the observations I made on the 
country during a residence of nearly twenty months. 

During the whole time that Leopold governed Tuscany, her 
prosperity had gone on increasing, her population had sensibly 
augmented and was still tending towards increase ; while free 
trade in grain had materially added to the products of agriculture. 
These results proved the beneficial influence of the principles 
adopted by Leopold, while the restrictions subsequently imposed 
on the grain trade have, by diminishing the products of the earth, 
confirmed the disadvantages of a prohibitive system. The events 
of the French Revolution, which brought war and all its attendant 
evils upon Italy, arrested the progressive impulse Uiat Leopold had 
given to Tuscany. The administration which succeeded his, 
dreading the introduction of the ])rinciples which were triumphant 
in France, believed, as it generally happens, that the best means 
of opposing the evil was not to yield points, which the spirit of the 
age and the new ideas which were circulating freely made it neces- 
sary to yield in order to satisfy the needs of society, but to with- 
draw all that had been hitherto granted, and to return completely 
to the past In all Leopold's institutions it detected the germs of 
% 



TUSCAN MORALS. ^JJ 



Revolution, and it could think of no better way to kill those germs 
than by destroying the institutions. The nobility and the clergy, 
whose privileges had been restricted, and whose alarm increased as 
the Revolution made progress in France, applauded this course of 
action, and aided it with all their influence. Nevertheless it would 
be an error to believe that society in general attached much im- 
portance to these questions, and a still greater mistake to conclude 
that the people took any active part in them. With the exception 
of a few movements promoted with great difficulty at critical junc- 
tures, and of which I have had occasion to speak, the prevailing 
aspect of all classes was that of indolence. For two centuries and 
a half Florence had lost the antique energy which had distin- 
guished that noble city in the stormy times of the Republic. Her 
peaceable inhabitants, deprived of all their rights, were no longer 
the distrustful citizens, whom love of freedom and of indepen- 
dence had so often roused to the most courageous measures and the 
most generous sacrifices. They were no longer so many illustrious 
Maecenas who offered magnanimous hospitality to science and let- 
ters. Almost everywhere my eye fell on men basking in a beauti- 
ful climate, occupied only in the dull details of a monotonous life, 
and vegetating beneath a beneficent sky. As for the women, a 
mixture of piety and intrigue was, as it is throughout all Italy, their 
distinguishing characteristic. Morals were extremely relaxed, but 
as that relaxation was universal and, singularly enough, the result 
of a generally admitted social convention, it gave rise to no crit- 
icism, and so long as a woman kept on good terms with her cava- 
liere servente, and that she used some secrecy and a sort of decency 
in her infidelities towards him, she enjoyed a spotless reputation. 
The domestic habits of France were therefore regarded as not a 
little ridiculous ; and although the report of the disappearance of 
all modesty from our manners since the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion had preceded us at Florence, and turned the public mind 
against us, our women were, to our great astonishment, set down 
as intolerable prudes, and their husbands' conduct in accompany- 
ing them in public, contrary to the customs of the country, was con- 
sidered unpardonable. But if the ladies of Florence were not very 
scrupulous as to conjugal fidelity, they were scrupulous in inverse 
proportion as to religious practices, and a woman who, with a per- 
fectly easy conscience, violated conjugal duties which are held 
sacred everywhere else, would not eat meat on a day of abstinence 
for any consideration. Nor were the other duties of religion ob- 
served less rigorously. They interfered a little, it is true, with the 
pleasures of intrigue ; but they also served as a pretext for escap- 
ing from wearisome bonds, and it was usually at Easter that old 
intimacies were broken off and new ones formed. It was also at 



78 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that holy season that the husband's consent to a change of cava- 
Here setTente was asked and obtained, for changes of this kind are 
family affairs. 

I do not, however, pretend to include the whole of society in 
this generalization. No one has had better opportunities than I of 
knowing what remarkable exceptions were to be found at that time 
in P'lorence and the other principal towns of Tuscany ; men and 
women of sterling merit and incapable of the weaknesses I have 
commented on. The famous physician Fontana, MM. Fabbroni, 
Fossombroni and Paoli, who have borne great names in natural 
science and mathematics ; M. Pignotti, a writer of charming fables ; 
j\I. Galuzzi, who wrote a history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, 
and other learned and literar}' men did honour to Tuscany and 
preser\ed to her a remnant of her ancient renown. Several ladies, 
Madame Fabbroni among the number, were distinguished for their 
talents and cultivation, and w^ould have shone with brilliant lustre 
in any country and in any society. 



CHAPTER V. 

Letter from General Buonaparte — The Author embarks at Leghorn and 
arrives at Bastia, where he finds Salicctti — He is instructed to adopt a 
system of conciliation, and to endeavour to reconcile party divisions — 
He publishes a proclamation accordingly — Political situation of Corsica 
— Some seditious risings are repressed and tranquillity re-established — 
Administration and laws organized, first in the department of Golo, 
and next in that of Liamone — Journey from Bastia to Ajaccio by Corte 
and the Col de Guizzavano, and from Ajaccio to Bonifacio by Gartena. 

On receiving the decree of the Directory which appointed me Com- 
missioner Extraordinary of the Government in Corsica, accompanied 
by instructions bearing date the 1 2th Brumaire, I had hastened to 
inform Buonaparte of my appointment, and to ask his advice re- 
specting the best way of fulfilling a mission whose difficulties I fully 
recognised. He sent me the following reply : 

" Headquarters, Verona, 

" 3d Frimaire, year V. 

* ' I have received, Citizen Minister, the letter you wrote me be- 
fore your departure for Corsica. The mission you are about to 
undertake is an extremely difficult one. Until all the work here 
is finished, it will not be possible to send any troops to Corsica. 
You will find General Gentili in command of this division there. 
He is an honorable man, and generally esteemed in the country. 
The people of Corsica are difficult to understand, their imagination 
being very lively, and their passions extremely active. 

" I wish you health and happiness. 

** Buonaparte." 

This letter was not encouraging. The General entered into no 
details, and sent me no help either in men or money. Never- 
theless I did not despair of success, and I embarked at Leghorn 
on the nth Frimaire, year V. (loth December, 1796). 

We were obliged to put into harbour at Capraja* to avoid the 
English cruisers, and I was blockaded there for six days. I de- 

* A small island to the west of Leghorn, about half way between the 
continent and the island of Corsica. 



8o MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

cidecl at last to leave the Aviso and to embark on board a felucca, 
and I took advantage of a calm, which detained the English ships, 
to row across the canal between Capraja and Corsica. In this way 
I landed on the 2 2d PVimaire on the eastern coast of the island, 
near Erba Liinir-i, live miles from Bastia, whither I proceeded on 
the following day. 

I had just left one of the most civilized cities in Italy, and it was 
with strange sensations that I found myself in a country whose wild 
aspect, barren mountains, and inhabitants all clothed alike in 
coarse brown cloth, contrasted so strongly with the rich and smil- 
ing country of Tuscany and with the comfortable, I might almost 
say the elegant, dress worn by the fortunate cultivators of that fertile 
soil. My disembarkation, on a dark winter's night, on an al- 
most uninhabited coast, where I had found no better shelter than 
a smoky cabin, had inspired me with gloomy forebodings. But a 
few days passed on the island were sufficient to accustom me to 
its aspect, which had at first seemed so repulsive. The rich nat- 
ural vegetation clothing the hills that slope downwards to the sea, 
the beauty of the sky and the mildness of the climate, in a season 
which is often very severe in France and Northern Italy, speedily 
dispelled my unfavourable impressions. 

I found many reasons, subsequently, to convince me that in the 
variety of its sites, the characteristic grandeur of its mountains, and 
the majestic solitude of its forests, Corsica need not fear competition 
with the countries most renowned for beauties of the same kind, 
whether the traveller studies it with the eye of an artist or that of 
a naturalist. 

On my arrival at Bastia, I found Salicetti there. He told me 
that he had been informed of my appointment, that he had put 
everything in training so as to secure me a favorable reception, and 
that I might rely on his influence and that of his friends for the 
success of my mission. I expressed my gratitude for his zeal, but 
I was obliged to let him know that my instructions prescribed a 
different course of action from that which he had adopted. I told 
him that I could not introduce the Constitutional regime into the 
island without having first assured myself that the state of popular 
feeling and opinion would alh^w of its establishment without danger 
to the public tranquillity ; and that 1 should therefore adjourn the 
meeting of the Primary Assemblies, and the exercise of the political 
rights of the inhabitants, until I should have acquired that assur- 
ance. And, indeed, such a delay was warranted by common pru- 
dence : it was evident that if the Constitutional system were sudden- 
ly adopted, authority would fall, without any counterpoise, into 
the hands of all those who, having left the island in order to escape 
f.om the influence of Paoli and of the English, were now returning 



SALICETTl'S VIEWS. 8 1 

in crowds, full of vengeance against such of their countrymen as, 
having taken the opposite side, had remained in the island, and 
were necessarily excluded from all public employment. Thus 
nothing could have been more detrimental to the end which I 
proposed to attain, that is to say, the effacement of those sharp 
divisions so as to blend them in submission to the Constitutional 
system, than an attempt to establish that system in the midst of so 
much enmity and so many ardent passions. Salicetti admitted 
that this system might have some advantages, but he looked on it 
as a mark of weakness on the part of the Directory. He thought 
that conciliatory dealings with men, who, according to him, had 
betrayed their country and the cause of Liberty, was a sort of 
concession likely to disgust patriots and occasion more internal 
difficulties than it would prevent. General Gentili, a most upright 
man, and raised by his high character and his social position 
above every suspicion of intrigue, was in favour, on the contrary, of 
the course that I proposed adopting, and which, in fact, I could 
not relinquish without deviating from the intentions of the Govern- 
ment. I therefore decided on making known at once by a proc- 
lamation,* which I published on the 24th Frimaire, year V. (De- 
cember 14, 1796), my arrival in the island, and the course I in- 
tended to pursue. A few days afterwards, Salicetti left Bastia, to 
return to the continent, and I was then enabled to exercise freely 
the authority confided to me. 

Before entering into details of my operations, I will devote a few 
lines to the political situation of the island at the time of my 
arrival. This is necessary in order that a correct estimate of my 
conduct may be formed. 

The inhabitants of Corsica may be represented, at the time of 
my arrival there, as divided into three classes : first, that of the 
Republicans who had taken refuge in France and were then return- 
ing to their native country, with claims to the national gratitude, 
and to demand indemnity for the losses they had sustained ; 
secondly, that of the inhabitants who had remained on the island, 
but had not been employed by the English in any public capacity, 
and many of whom had been ill-treated on account of the attach- 
ment to France which they often manifested ; and thirdly, that of 
the partisans of Paoli, who had served the English and taken ad- 
vantage of the period of their supremacy to enrich themselves, and 
to plunder or devastate the property of their absent fellow-citizens. 

It behoved us to adapt ourselves to a people composed of such 
opposite elements, and above all to prevent collisions between 

* This proclamation appears in the " Moniteur," of the 19th Nivose, 
year V. 



83 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

them ; and it was therefore necessary to renounce the idea of any 
settlement which would have brouij^lit individual interests into op- 
position, in a country where public spirit had no existence, and 
where those interests predominated over all others. I had already 
acted in this sense, by suspending all popular meetings ; and to 
this preliminary measure I added another, which was dictated by 
prudence. On proclaiming a general amnesty, I was careful not 
to mention the exceptions which the Executive Directory had made 
to this act of clemency. These comprised, first, the deputies who 
had carried the crown of Corsica to the King of England in Lon- 
don ;* secondly, the members of the Council of the Viceroy ; f 
thirdly, the emigres who were described as such on the lists of the 
Departments. But as these exceptions were meaningless as regards 
the two first-named classes, none of the individuals composing 
them being at that time in the island, so that consequently they 
could only fall on the third, I soon perceived how dangerous and 
impolitic it would be to make them known. Indeed, the emi- 
gration had but just taken place at the time when Paoli, who had 
been recalled to his country by a decree of the Constituent Assem- 
blyj came back to the island, where he seized the reins of power, 
and, by violence and threats, forced all those who would not recog- 
nize his authority or serve his projects, to expatriate themselves. 

How was it possible then to inflict the terrible penalties adjudged 
against the emigres, on those who had only fled from the tyranny 
of a man who had seized on illegitimate power, and at the same 
time, by a verbal equivoque, to pardon those who had supported 
the usurper, and afterwards aided him in selling part of the territory 

* This deputation, consisting of four persons, fulfilled its mission in 
October 1794. The King of England had been recognized as King of 
Corsica by the Constitution of June 19, 1794 (see Chapters xi. and xii. of 
that Constitution). Corsica had been handed over to the English on 
May 21, 1794, in virtue of a capitulation concluded with Admiral Hood, 
and signed by Stephen Monti, President of the Department of Corsica, 
John Baptist Galeazzini, Mayor of Bastia, Charles Francis Emmanuel 
Couthaud, and John Baptist Franceschi, adjutants-general of the French 
army. 

f Sir Gilbert Elliot. He was at first Lieutenant of the king in Corsica, 
and afterwards received the title and authority of Viceroy. He was 
assisted by a Council of State, consisting in great measure of Corsicans. 
Paoli was a member of the Council. 

t This decree is dated November 30, 1789. Paoli returned to Corsica 
as a simple citizen only ; but the ascendency he exercised over his coun- 
trymen rendered him virtually sovereign. The National Convention de- 
creed an indictment against him on April 2, 1793. and on the 17th of the 
following July declared him a traitor to the country. Paoli revenged 
himself by delivering the Island of Corsica to the English, who soon 
abandoned it, and merely offered him a refuge in London, where he died 
on February 3, 1807. 



INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS. 83 

of the Republic to England ? This omission, for which I was not 
censured by the Government, facilitated my first operations, and 
though it gave rise to discontent among those pretended patriots 
who were already casting their eyes on the property of the emigres, 
that they might indemnify themselves for the losses they had sus- 
tained, it was generally acknowledged as well done, and I obtained 
the confidence of the public by means of it* 

I could not, however, prevent some insurrectionary movements 
which took place in a part of the island known by the name of 
Balanga. f These movements, set on foot by some former partisans 
of England who considered themselves not sufficiently guaranteed 
by the recent amnesty, had assumed a rather serious character. | 

I felt the necessity of suppressing them promptly by an imme- 
diate expedition, and as, to my great regret, the health of General 
Gentili did not allow him to take the command, I determined to 
proceed in person to the spot with Adjutant-General Franceschi, 
who directed the military movements. The rapidity of our march 
and our unexpected arrival at Alziprato, a Capuchin Convent, situ- 
ated in the mountains, and which was the centre of the insurrec- 
tion, immediately dispersed the rebels, with whom we exchanged 
a few shots only. Order was quickly re-established. By a further 
proclamation, which I published at Calvithe 2istNiv6se, I calmed 
the fears of the inhabitants respecting the consequences of these 
seditious risings, and thenceforth tranquillity was restored. Nor 
was it interrupted for a single moment during the remainder of my 
stay in Corsica. 

Having strengthened and consolidated my position by the suc- 
cess of this expedition, 1 returned to Bastia, and occupied myself 
exclusively with the civil organisation of the country, beginning 
with the department of Golo, in which I resided. § Profiting by 
the information which I had acquired in the course of a month, I 
had, before my departure for Calvi, nominated the individuals to 

* I ought, however, to state that, just as the Primary Assemblies were 
about to meet, that is to say, on ist Germinal, I consented, on the repre- 
sentations of the Central Administration of the Department of Golo, to 
have these exceptions put in force against some few persons included in 
them, in order to avert the disturbances which their presence would not 
have failed to excite in the Primary Assemblies. For this severity I was 
denounced ; with how little reason I have already shown. 

f Roussa, a harbour on the west coast of Corsica, is the capital of this 
province. 

X A report had also been spread that the French were about to aban- 
don Corsica, and that the English were bringing back Paoli with a con- 
siderable force. 

§ Corsica was then divided into two departments, Golo and Liamone, 
the names of the two principal rivers by which they are respectively 
watered. 



84 MKMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



compose the central administration of this department, so that, had 
my absence been prolonged, the town and department would have 
been ])rc)vided with a re<j;ular government. The new administra- 
tors had completely justified my confidence, and 1 ascertained 
during my journey that my selection of men was generally ap- 
proved. This first success was encouraging, and I believed that I 
ought no longer to delay the organisation of the law-courts, which 
was now urgently required. I proceeded therefore to install the 
judges I had appointed by a decree of the 1 6th Nivose, year V. 
(January 5, 1797), and also, by decrees passed on the 6th Pluviose 
(^january 26) to institute the Tribunal of Commerce, the Munici- 
palities, and the Magistrature, in the different cantons. A regular 
order of things being thus established in the department without 
opposition, I ceded to the administrations and tribunals, in suc- 
cession, the powers I had exercised extraordinarily, and I prepared 
to leave the department of Golo for that of Liamone, of which 
Ajaccio is the capital. 

I left Bastia on the loth Pluviose (January 29). I first crossed 
the beautiful plain which extends from Bastia, north and south, to 
the banks of the Golo. Thence a road, excellent throughout its 
whole length, made since the conquest, leads to Corte up the val- 
ley of the Golo, which is crossed by a very fine bridge at about 
thirty miles from Corte. 

The variety of a landscape which at every step assumes a new 
aspect, renders the road from the point at which the traveller 
reaches the river, until he arrives at Corte, very agreeable ; but 
it has the drawback of passing through no inhabited parts, it merely 
skirts villages on the right and left without entering them. The 
mania of making thedirectestand shortest roads had been imported 
from France into Corsica by the engineers, very skilful men no 
doubt, who had made this one, and a road, which by a circuit of per- 
haps two or three miles would have given life to several villages, has 
been of no service to civilisation, whose progress it would undoubt- 
edly have accelerated, had it been constructed on a different plan. 

The town of Corte, situated at the foot of the mountains in the 
centre of Corsica, contains from three to four thousand inhabitants. 
The houses of which it consists are scattered over several low 
hills, and present no regularity of aspect. Its situation is wonder- 
fully picturesque : two rivers, or rather two torrents, celebrated for 
the clearness of their waters, the '1 avignano and the Restonica, the 
latter uniting with the former,* water the surrounding country. 

* Both these torrents descend from Monte Rotondo. and, united under 
the name of the Tavignano, How into the sea near Aleria, the ancient 
Alalia, founded, according to Herodotus, by the Phocians. 



CORSICAN SCENERY. ' 85 

Its air is healthy at all seasons, and its situation had caused it to 
be selected as the seat of the Administration when the island con- 
sisted of only one Department. The English during their occupa- 
tion had also appointed it as the residence of the Viceroy, and the 
seat of the Corsican Parliament. But since the return of the 
French, and the division of the island into two Departments, Corte 
had lost all its former importance. I stayed there for two days, 
and after settling some business, I left the town for Ajaccio. 

The carriage-road at that time ended at Corte, and from thence 
as far as the coasts of the Gulf of Ajaccio, there were but narrow 
pathways which were barely practicable on horseback. The de- 
partment of Golo is separated from that of Liamone by the lofty 
chain of mountains situate in the centre of the island, and from 
which rise the two peaks of Monte Rotondo and Monte d'Oro, 
which both reach a height of between 1300 and 1400 fathoms above 
the level of the sea. This chain is traversed by a passage, called 
Foce di Guizzavona, which may be perhaps 400 fathoms above the 
level of the sea. 

It becomes impracticable at times from the accumulation of 
snow, and is frequently even dangerous during the terrible storms 
so common in the Alps, and to which the mountains of Corsica are 
equally liable. 

The passage was free at the time of my arrival, and I had full 
opportunities of admiring the wild and magnificent landscape spread 
out before me. The slopes of the Col, on the side of Vivario, a 
village situated at the foot of the Foce, and from whence the ascent 
of the sides of the mountain begins, are, as well as those that lead 
down towards the Gulf of Ajaccio, clothed with most beautiful 
vegetation, almost wholly with the kind of pine special to Corsica, 
the Pino Caricia [pinus pinaster). This magnificent tree some- 
times attains a height of more than 720 feet, and in the distribution 
of its branches and the beauty of its leaf, is rivalled, among the 
numerous family of pines, only by the Cedar of Lebanon, or Lord 
Weymouth's Pine-tree {pinus strobus) when growing in their native 
soil. The Col properly so called, or the Foce di Guizzavona con- 
sists of a fiat table-land which may be half a mile in length by 
about a quarter in width. 

A tower, with a facing and moat, which forms a little fortress, 
has been erected there and is sometimes occupied by a small garri- 
son for the purpose either of watching over the safety of travellers, 
or in times of disturbance of supporting military expeditions into 
the mountains, and preserving communications between the north- 
em and southern parts of the island. This little fort was deserted 
and almost in ruins when I passed through the Col, but I had it 
restored subsequently. 



86 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

After the table-land has been crossed the descent commences, and 
from its southern extremity the waters fall into the Western Sea, 
which soon becomes visible through the trees, on the verge of the 
horizon, The mountain torrents rushing and bounding over gran- 
ite rocks, the sound of their waters, the whistling of the wind 
as it shakes and bends the gigantic trunks of the pine-trees, all 
give a chann to the descent which make the traveller forget 
the fatigue and danger of a path which is safe only for the 
Corsican horse and the mule. The spectacle was new and in- 
teresting to me and to most of my companions, and we arrived 
without accident at Bogognano, where the steep slope comes to an 
end. We were then eighteen miles from Ajaccio, and I reached 
that town on the 13th Pluviose (February' i). 

Before I entered the town, I saw a number of the inhabitants, 
all of them on horseback, corning to welcome me according to the 
custom of the country. Among them was Joseph Buonaparte, the 
elder brother of the General. I met him with great eagerness. 
His mild and refined countenance, affable manners, and polished 
language, prepossessed me in his favour. I may say, that I date 
from this our first meeting the sincere affection I have ever enter- 
tained for him, and which the intimacy which subsequently existed 
between us has only served to strengthen and increase. I attached 
myself to him, as will be seen, in all the different phases of his 
fortune ; and his friendship has been the reward of my fidelity. 

So long as I was setded, I occupied myself unremittingly with 
the organisation of the department of which Ajaccio is the chief 
place. I met with fewer difficulties than in the department of 
Golo. The confidence I felt in M. Joseph Buonaparte greatly 
alleviated my labours ; I followed his advice in the various ap- 
pointments I had to make, and I have had reason to congratulate 
myself on the result. Every nomination that I made by his coun- 
sel has been since confirmed by the approbation of the public. 
Nevertheless, although my selection of persons was complete 
within a week after my arrival at Ajaccio, I did not think it well to 
make the list known until I had inspected the greater portion of 
the department. I wished to collect on the spot information 
respecting the persons whom I proposed to appoint to various 
offices. I wished especially to profit by the judgment of General 
Gentili on so important a matter. He had preceded me to 
Ajaccio, and had agreed to accompany me on the journey I in- 
tended to make into the interior as far as Bonifacio. I bade a 
temporary adieu to M. Joseph Buonaparte, who remained at 
Ajaccio, and started on the 19th Pluviose (February 8) for 
Sartena. 

The district through which I had to pass in order to reach Boni- 



CORSICAN FEUDS. 8/ 



facio is one of the most uncultivated in Corsica. Entirely separated 
from the great line of communication existing between Bastia and 
Ajaccio, lying away from the route of any traveller, it retains traces 
of the character of its ancient inhabitants, and, like Niolo and 
Fiumorbo, districts also placed beyond the reach of intercourse, it 
has not benefited by the progress which civilisation has made in 
the other cantons, especially in the towns on the sea-coast. 

Before reaching Sartena* I passed through several villages where 
hereditary feuds, which had originated more than fifty years back, 
divided the inhabitants into parties constantly hostile to one 
another. Houses with battlemented walls, for the purpose of 
defence against the attacks of an enemy, and from which the in- 
dwellers only issued in armed gangs in order to procure provisions 
and making preparations for enduring a siege, proclaimed a con- 
tinual state of warfare in many villages. Meanwhile these singular 
people had suspended hostilities by formal treaties in honour of my 
arrival ; the chiefs of the warring factions came together to meet 
me, and each solicited my preference of himself as a host eager to 
afford me hospitality. Had I been induced to make a choice, it 
would have been a fresh cause of quarrel between them ; so that I 
did not accept the invitation of either of the rivals in any instance, 
but generally took up my residence in the house of some less 
wealthy person, where I did not, it is true, meet with so splendid 
a reception, but whose owner holding himself in a neutral attitude 
inspired no jealousy in the dominant families ; or, if this resource 
failed me, I would lodge in one of the Capuchin Monasteries, f 
These were the only Religious houses established in the interior of 
the island, and a few of them were still in existence. The poverty 
of the country had never attracted thither the sons of Benedict and 
Bernard ; the Jesuits only had braved this inhospitable soil ; the 
Society had an establishment at Ajaccio. 

My journey into the interior, which gave me a clearer idea of 
the habits and character of Corsicans than I had until then 
acquired, was also rendered memorable by a remarkable circum- 
stance. At a short distance from Sartena, I was joined by a 
courier who had been despatched to me from the Army of Italy, 
to announce the surrender of Mantua on the 14th Pluviose (Feb- 
ruary 3). This courier, not finding me at Ajaccio, had followed 
in my footsteps, and came up with me on the road, in a very wild 

* My route lay through Cauro-Ornano, Santa Maria d'Istria, where 
there exists a branch of the house of Colon na, and Sartena. 

f This is the course I adopted in travelling from Bastia to Ajaccio ; 
when the two principal families of that district, the Vivaldis and the Peral- 
dis, fired on each other in their dispute as to which should have the honour 
of entertaining me. 



88 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

spot, which soon re-echoed with the joyful slioiits of our Httle 
caraN^n. No piece of news could, in truth, be more welcome to 
me ; while the fall of Mantua made our conquests in Italy secure, 
and was a presage of those which followed and which extended our 
rule over the remainder of the peninsula ; it also rendered my 
arduous mission less difficult, and gave me, so to speak, a pledge 
of its success. 

After remaining half a day at Sartena, I arrived at Bonifacio 
on the 2 2d Pluviose (February lo). This town, situated at the 
southern extremity of Corsica, is built on a chalk cliff which pro- 
jects over the Straits of Bonifacio, from east to west, and separates 
the port, formed by a deep inland bay, from the open sea. Its 
situation, which is wonderfully picturesque, gives it the com- 
mand of the channel and the islands which traverse it in 
various directions, and also of Sardinia, whose nearest village, 
Lungo-Sardo, is so near that a saying current in the country is, 
" The inhabitants of Bonifacio are awaked by the crowing ot the 
cocks of Sardinia." There are remarkable grottoes along the 
shore, into which the sea flows : these grottoes deserve the notice 
of travellers, on account of the beauty of the stalactites, produced 
by infiltrations of chalk from the soil above, which hang from their 
roof. 

I was very well received by the inhabitants, and I found the 
people generally well disposed towards the Government. I passed 
three days at Bonifacio, where I had to regulate some affairs of local 
interest ; after these were settled, I began to think of returning to 
Ajaccio as quickly as possible. The journey that I had just accom- 
plished by land was fatiguing and long ; the sea offered a quick- 
er mode ; it was calm, the wind was favourable, and, by keeping 
near the coast during the night, there would be little to fear from 
any English vessels which might be cruising in the neighbourhood. 
I therefore decided on embarking with General Gentili on the 24th 
Pluviose, in the evening. The next morning we doubled Cape 
Mulo, and entered the Gulf of Ajaccio, where I landed in the 
afternoon. On the same day I published the regulations for the 
organisation of the Central Government and the tribunals of the 
Department of Liamone. I installed the appointed officers on the 
27th Pluviose (February 15), and on the 28th a public fete took 
place in honour of the surrender of Mantua. Prizes were distributed 
for horse-races and gondola-races with oars. These contests, of 
which the Corsicans are very fond, attracted a crowd ot spectators 
from the mountains, who came to the show in their national cos- 
tume. The weather was superb, and the view from the Gulf of 
Ajaccio, which as 1 have since convinced myself is greater in ex- 
tent than that of Naples, was truly magnificent. 



FAREWELL TO CORSICA. 89 

All that I had to do was now accomplished, and the administra- 
tion was in regular working order ; so that I did not require to 
prolong my stay at Ajaccio, where I left men and things in a satis- 
factory state. On the 2d Ventose (February 28) I set out on my 
return to Bastia ; and, as I adopted the same route as in coming 
to Ajaccio, I have nothing more to say about it. 

I stayed another month in Corsica, in order to superintend the 
first steps of the Government I had established there. But, as my 
mission naturally came to an end on the ist Germinal, year V. 
(March 21, 1797), the period at which, according to the constitu- 
tion of year IIL , the Primary Assemblies were to be held, and to 
confirm or annul by their votes the appointments made by me, I 
did not wish to prolong my stay beyond that date. By taking my 
departure, I avoided on the one hand the appearance of putting 
pressure on the popular choice, and, on the other, responsibility 
for any disturbance which the first exercise of their political rights 
might occasion among a people in whom, notwithstanding all my 
efforts, the spirit of party was not completely extinguished. I 
was resolved therefore to relinquish all my functions on the ist 
Germinal, and I had arranged to meet Joseph Buonaparte at the 
beginning of the month, and cross with him to the mainland. I 
took advantage of the time which still remained to me on the island 
to gather together and put in order the documents I had collected 
during my stay, and from which I drew up a report addressed to the 
Minister of the Interior on the state of Corsica, its productions, its 
trade, and its industries ; and also on the habits and character of 
its inhabitants. 



i 

I 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Author leaves Corsica with Joseph Buonaparte, goes to Florence, 
and from thence to Milan — He visits General Buonaparte, then residing 
with his family at Montebello, after a brilliant campaign terminated by 
the treaty of Tolentino — The peace preliminaries of Leoben and the 
transformation ot the Governments of Venice and Genoa — Lukewarm 
Republicanism of the General — A remarkable conversation in which 
Buonaparte reveals his future plans — The Author goes to Turin — Po- 
litical situation of Piedmont and its Government — Embarrassment 
caused to the Author by the secret agents maintained in Piedmont by 
the Directory with revolutionary objects — The Sardinian Government, 
supported by Buonaparte, displays excessive severity in putting down 
the partial insurrections in Piedmont — The Author goes to Milan to 
have an interview with Buonaparte — Situation of the different parties 
in the Directory and the Councils in Paris before the Cottp d Eiat of 
the i8th Fructidor — Buonaparte decides on supporting the Revolution- 
ary party — The Author accompanies the General and Madame Buona- 
parte in an expedition to Lake Maggiore — He returns to Turin after 
having agreed with the General upon the course he is to take there — 
The iSth Fructidor — Its consequences as regarded the position of 
the Sardinian Government, which, as a result of the treaty of Campo- 
Formio, found itself deprived of Buonaparte's support — The Directory 
separates the General from the Army of Italy by giving him a com- 
mand in the interior — Buonaparte, in going to Rastadt, passes through 
Turin — His conversation with the Author — The position of the Sardin- 
ian Government becomes more and more precarious. 

At the end of the month of Ventose, Joseph Buonaparte joined 
me at Bastia, and on the 8th Germinal we embarked to return to 
the mainland. We had to stop at Capraja, in order to evade the 
English cruiser, and we left the island in the night of the loth-iith 
Germinal in very stormy weather. Favoured by the darkness and 
a strong wind, we reached Leghorn in less than four hours. I 
went to Florence, where I had to wait for the papers concerning 
my nomination to the embassy of Turin. I did not receive them 
until the end of the month of Floreal ; my letters of credit and in- 
structions awaiting me at Turin. 

I left Florence on the loth Prairial (May 29) for Milan, where I 
remained for several days in order to see General Buonaparte, and 
to consult with him on the new functions I was about to exercise. 

At this epoch Buonaparte seemed to have attained to the zenith 
of militarj' glory. The fall of Mantua had set him free to march 



MONTEBELLO. 91 



on Rome, and if the treaty of Tolentino,* signed on the ist Ven- 
t6se (February 19, 1797), had not re-established peace between the 
Repubhc and the Holy See, the ancient capital of the world would 
have been occupied by a French army. But not only did Buona- 
parte wish to spare the Pope, but policy forbade the pursuance of 
a campaign which would remove the French from Upper Italy, 
where they had to fight a new Austrian army commanded by the 
Archduke Charles, and it was with reason that Buonaparte said, 
* * If I went to Rome I should lose Milan. ' ' Thus, after his short 
expedition into the Romagna, rapidly retracing his steps, he 
J'^crossed the Tagliamento and the Isonza, pursued the Austrian 
army, which was flying before him, into Carniola and Styria, and 
arrived at the gates of Vienna. Austria, in great alarm, asked for an 
armistice, which was granted her on the i8th Germinal (April 7) at 
Judenbourg, and signed preliminaries at Leoben the 26th (15th) 
of the same month. In returning to Italy, after arranging this 
treaty, which had become as necessary to France as to Austria, on 
account of the insurrection against the French that had just broken 
out in the States of Venice, Buonaparte avenged his country for 
the perfidy of the Venetian Senate by overthrowing forever that 
formidable oligarchy, which had maintained itself for so many 
centuries, in the midst of the political convulsions and wars that 
had ravaged Italy. As the conqueror of four Austrian armies, 
Buonaparte, the destroyer of the most ancient government of 
Europe, came back to Milan, where he received the deputies of 
the people of Venice, dictated to them his laws, and established 
an absolute Democracyf on the ruins of the Senate and the Grand 
Council, which had sent in their resignation. He had at this time 
been barely a year in Italy. 

He then settled himself down at Montebello, J; where confer- 
ences commenced by a definitive treaty of peace concluded between 
France and Austria, and where the affairs of Genoa were discussed 
at the same time. Intimidated by the example of Venice, Genoa 
consented, like her rival, to renounce her ancient organisation. § 

I was received by Buonaparte, at the magnificent residence of 
Montebello, on the 13th Prairial (June i), in the midst of a bril- 
liant court rather than the headquarters of an army. Strict 

* It was only after this treaty that the articles of the armistice, relative 
to the cession of the art objects, were executed. 

f This treaty is of the i6th Floreal, year V. (May 5, 1797). 

i Chateau and park about four miles from Milan. 

§ The convention which regulated the affairs of Genoa, signed by 

Buonaparte and Faipoult, then Minister of the Republic at Genoa, bears 

date the 17th and i8th Prairial (June 5 and 6, 1797). It is signed for 

the Genoese by Michel-Ange Cambiaso, Louis Carbonara, and Jerome 

iirran9ois-Serra. 



92 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

etiquette already reigned around him ; his aides-de-camp and his 
oflicers were no longer received at his table, and he had become 
fastidious in the choice of the guests whom he admitted to it. An 
invitation was an honour eagerly sought, and obtained with great 
dilhculty. He dined, so to speak, in public ; the inhabitants of 
the country were admitted to the room in which he was eating, 
and allowed to gaze at him with a keen curiosity. He was in no 
wise embarrassed or confused by these excessive honours, but 
received them as though he had been accustomed to them all his 
life. His reception-rooms and an immense tent pitched in front 
of the palace were constantly full of a crowd of generals, adminis- 
trators, and great contractors ; besides members of the highest 
nobility, and the most distinguished men in Italy, who came to 
solicit the favour of a momentar}- glance or the briefest interview. 
In a word, all bowed before the glory of his victories and the 
haughtiness of his demeanour. He was no longer the General of 
a triumphant Republic, but a conqueror on his own account, im- 
posing his laws on the x^anquished. 

Austria had sent two Plenipotentiaries to Montebello ; one of 
them was Count de IMeerfeld, and the other the Marquis de Gatto, 
ambassador from Naples to Vienna. The latter was afterwards 
ambassador to Paris, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, under the 
successive reigns of Joseph Buonaparte, King of Naples, and 
Murat, who succeeded him on that throne. On its side, the 
Director}' had sent to Buonaparte General Clarke (aftenvards Due 
de Feltre), who had on the i6th of the preceding Germinal con- 
cluded a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between the 
French Republic and the King of Sardinia. Jealous of the pre- 
ponderance, or rather of the absolute independence that Buona- 
parte affected in the conduct of political affairs, and uneasy at his 
ambition which was already showing itself without disguise, the 
Directory had contrived this appointment under the pretext of 
assisting General Buonaparte, but in reality to place a spy on liis 
designs and provide a counterpoise for his authority. But an expe- 
dient of this sort was not likely to succeed with such a man as 
Buonaparte. He saw through the intentions of the Government 
at once, and, far from giving his colleague a share in the conduct 
of the negotiations, he concealed their progress from him more 
closely than from any other person, and Clarke was positively of all 
the negotiators then at Montebello the individual in whom Buona- 
parte confided the least. 

.Such was the state of things when Buonaparte, to whom I had 
written on arriving at Milan, invited me, through Bourienne (who 
for some time past had been his i)rivatc secretary), to come and 
see him at Montebello, where he even proposed that I should 



BUONAPARTE AND CLARKE. 93 

establish myself. This offer I refused, in order not to be separated 
from my family, who were with me, and besides, the distance be- 
tween Milan and Montebello was sufficiently short to enable me to 
come and go every day. 

In addition to the persons of whom I have already mentioned, 
as either living at Montebello or coming there regularly, I met 
Madame Buonaparte, the General's wife ; Madame Laetitia Buona- 
parte, his mother, who had just arrived from Genoa ; his brothers 
Joseph and Louis, the latter then very young ; his sister Pauline, 
who was shortly afterwards married to General Leclerc, and Fesch 
his uncle. Fesch had at that time an interest in the army sup- 
plies, and according to rumour had little of the priest about him ; 
he did not even wear clerical costume, although he had been 
Gmnd Vicar to the Bishop of Ajaccio. In this numerous society 
I frequently met Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, whom up to 
that time I had known only by the reputation he had acquired in 
the Constituent Assembly, and soon became intimate with him. 
He had official employment connected with the hospitals, but he 
had attracted Buonaparte's attention by his editing a French Jour- 
nal which came out at Milan. He displayed rare facility, as well 
as remarkable talent, as an editor, and to this circumstance, which 
frequently brought him in contact with the General, he owed his 
subsequent fortune. 

In the first conversation that I had with Buonaparte at Monte- 
bello, and which began with the subject of my Corsican mission, 
in which he thought I had acquitted myself well, I saw, so soon 
as he touched on more important topics that he had by no means 
decided upon treating definitively with Austria, and still less upon 
promoting the negotiation or concluding it promptly. He recog- 
nised all the advantages of the position he had acquired, and feared 
that peace might change it. This actually happened after the 
treaty of Campo-Formio. He seemed to me to hold the negotia- 
tors the Emperor had sent him cheap, and made some very bitter 
jests at their expense. He took especial care to tell me that 
Clarke, whom the Directory had chosen to associate with him, was 
there merely for form's sake, that he had no influence, and never 
received any communication. 

' ' He is a spy, ' ' he added, ' ' whom the Directory have set upon 
me ; besides, Clarke is a man of no talent — he is only con- 
ceited."* 

I perfectly recognised by what he said at our first interview, and 
in all my subsequent conversations with him during my stay at 
Milan, the same views and the same designs that I had detected in 

* Nevertheless, he afterwards raised Clarke to the highest dignities. 



94 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

our previous interviews at Breccia, Bologna, and Florence. In a 
word, I still found in Buonaparte a man thoroughly opposed to 
Republican forms and ideas ; he treated everything of the sort as 
idle dreams. 

He withdrew the mask more completely on a certain occasion, 
which 1 cannot pass over in silence. 

Among the crowd which surrounded and followed him eagerly, 
I observed that he particularly distinguished M. de Melzi, a jNlilan- 
ese noble, and one of the most enlightened and honourable citi- 
zens of Lombardy.* I happened to be with him one day at 
Montebello, and 13uonaparte invited us both to walk with him in 
the vast gardens of that beautiful palace. Our walk lasted about 
two hours, during which time the General talked almost inces- 
santly, and either the confidence with which we inspired him led 
him to reveal his mind undisguisedly, or he was carried away by 
the longing he frequently experienced to give expression to the 
ideas crowding upion his brain, to the first comer. He spoke with 
entire frankness of his projects for the future. 

'* What I have done up to this," he said, " is nothing. I am 
t only at the beginning of the course I must run. Do you imagine 
that I triumph in Italy in order to aggrandise the pack of lawyers 
who form the Directory, and men like Carnot and Barras ? What 
an idea ! a Republic of thirty million men ! and with our man- 
ners, our vices ! how is it possible ? That is a fancy of which the 
French are at present full, but it will pass away like all the others. 
What they want is Glory and gratified Vanity ; but as for Liberty, 
they do not understand what it means. Look at the army ! the 
victories we have just won have already restored the French soldier 
to his true character. To him, I am ever}* thing. Let the Direc- 
tory try to take the command from me, and they will see who is 
master. The nation must have a chief, and a chief rendered illus- 
trious by glory, not by theories of government, by phrases, by theo- 
retic speeches, which Frenchmen do not understand. Give them 
baubles — that suffices them ; they will be amused and will let 
themselves be led, so long as the end towards which they are going 
is skilfully hidden from them. 

" As for your country, Monsieur de Melzi, it possesses still 
fewer elements of Republicanism than France, and can be more 
easily managed than any other. You know better than any one 

* M. de Melzi d'Eril (afterwards Duke of Lodi) was subsequently 
named Vice president of the Italian Republic, and when in 1S05 that Re 
public was changed into a kingdom he received the title of " Chancellor- 
keeper of the Seals of the Crown." I had known him at Florence (see 
note, page 50), and I saw him again a few years later at Paris. He died 
in 1816. 



BUONAPARTE. REVEALS HIMSELF. 95 

that we shall do what we like with Italy. But the time has not 
yet come ; we must temporise with the fever of the moment, and 
we are going to have one or two Republics here of our own par- 
ticular kind — Monge will arrange that for us. In the meantime I 
have already expunged two from Italian territory, and although 
they were quite aristocratic Republics, they had more public spirit 
and more fixed opinions than we found anywhere else. They would 
in the end have hampered us. For the rest, I am quite deter- 
mined. I will not give up either Lombardy or Mantua to Austria. 
You may reckon upon that' ' (he was still addressing himself to 
M. de Melzi), " and you see that whatever decision we arrive at 
with, respect to your country, you may enter into my views with- 
out having anything to fear either from the return or the power of 
Austria. I will give her Venice, and a portion of the terra firma 
of that ancient Republic as an indemnification. " 

We both together exclaimed against such a proposition, which 
would once more set Austria at the gates of Italy, and crush all the 
hopes of a population which he himself had freed from the yoke 
of an odious oligarchy, only to transfer them to an absolute mon- 
archy, which would hold them in a no less intolerable slavery than 
that from which he had just delivered them. He answered that 
we need not cry out before we were hurt. 

" I shall not do that," he continued, " unless by some blunder 
in Paris I am compelled to make peace ; for it is not my intention 
to finish so promptly with Austria. Peace is not to my interest. 
You see what I am, and what I can now do in Italy. If peace is 
made, if I am no longer at the head of the army, which is attached 
to me, I must renounce the power, the high position I have made 
for myself, in order to pay court to a lot of lawyers at the Luxem- 
bourg. I do not want to leave Italy unless it be to play a part in 
France similar to my part here, and the time has not yet come ; 
the pear is not ripe. But the management of all this does not de- 
pend exclusively on me. There are disagreements in Paris. One 
party is in favor of the Bourbons ; I do not intend to contribute 
to its triumph. I am quite ready to weaken the Republican party ; 
some day I shall do it for my own advantage, not that of the 
former dynasty. In the meantime I must act with the Republican 
party. And then, if peace be necessary in order to satisfy our Paris 
boobies, and if it has to be made, it is my task to make it. If I 
left the merit of it to another, such a concession would place him 
higher in public favour than all my victories have placed me. " 

The foregoing contains the substance and the most remarkable 
expressions of this long allocution, which I both consigned to 
paper, and retain m my memory. 

After the General had left us, I continued to converse with M.. 



96 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

de Melzi, during our return journey to Milan, on the serious sub- 
jects he had suggested to us. 

In my final conversation with Buonaparte, the mission I was 
about to undertake at Turin was discussed. 

The General assured me (and the sequel has proved that he was 
not insincere) that he had no intention of disturbing Piedmont, 
and that 1 might give ample assurance that such was the case ; but 
he added that he could not be answerable for the intentions of 
die E.xecutive Directory in this respect, surrounded as it was by 
schemers, who would not fail to stir up dissensions in the country. 

He said enough, on the whole, to make me feel that my mission 
would be a difiicult one. 

At last, after spending a week at Milan, I left that city for Turin. 
I crossed the Ticino on the 21st Prairial, and on the right bank of 
the river I found a detachment of cavalry which the Government 
had sent forward to meet me. It escorted me to Turin, where I 
arrived the next day, the 2 2d Prairial, year V. (June 10, 1797). 

1 shall now endeavour to describe the political situation of the 
country, and the government to which I was accredited. 

The peace concluded with the King of Sardinia on the 26th 
Floreal, year V. (May 15, 1796), ensuing on the victories of the 
French in the early months of the same year had saved the Court 
of Turin from complete ruin. Victor Amadeus III., who had 
concluded the treaty, died a few months after its ratification, 
October the i6th, 1796 (26th Vendemiaire, year V.). His son 
Charles Emmanuel IV. had succeeded him, and had hastened to 
appoint an ambassador to the Executive Directory in Paris, in the 
person of Count Prosper de' Balbi. My appointment to the same 
post at the Court of the King of Sardinia had immediately fol- 
lowed. Independently of these reciprocal marks of a friendly un- 
derstanding between the two Governments, negotiations had been 
commenced with a view to a treaty of alliance, offensive and de- 
fensive, between France and Piedmont, and one of the conditions 
was the cession ol the island of Sardinia to France, in exchange for 
an increase of territory in Italy.* General Clarke had been 
entrusted with these negotiations, and he found the dispositions of 
the Cabinet of Turin favourable. On the one hand, that Cabinet 
was displeased with Austria for her desertion of it in the hour of 
danger, f and on the other, the fear lest France might support the 

* This stipulation was not contained in the treaty itself, but in a secret 
convention signed on the same day. 

f The King of Sardinia and the Emperor had concluded a treaty of 
alliance, signed at Valenciennes on May 23, 1794, by Baron de Thugut 
and the Marquis d'Albany. The conditions of this treaty were ill- 
observed by Austria. 



THE TREATY. 97 

revolutionary projects of certain Piedmontese subjects, held the 
Sardinian Government in bondage to France, and made it ar- 
dently desire an alliance, which would be, in reality, a guarantee of 
its existence. 

These negotiations which, it might be thought, would, under 
such favouring circumstances, advance rapidly, hung fire for several 
months. Buonaparte, who was informed of the delay, pressed for 
a conclusion, in order to get hold of the contingent which Pied- 
mont was bound by one of the articles of the treaty to furnish, and 
which would have been of considerable use to him. He even 
asked the Sardinian Government to anticipate the conclusion of 
the treaty, and to order to Novara the troops which were to be 
added to the French army when the casus fcederis should take 
place. But he asked in vain. The treaty was eventually signed 
at Turin on the i6th Germinal, year V. (April 5, 1797), between 
General Clarke, Plenipotentiary of France, and the Count de 
Prioca (Clement Damiano), Plenipotentiary of the King of Sar- 
dinia and his Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

By this time, however, the importance that might have attached 
to the men and guns which the treaty placed at the disposition of 
the French Commander-in-Chief, had ceased to exist. 

Buonaparte was already in the heart of Styria, and he affixed his 
signature at Leoben to the preliminaries of peace with Austria 
nearly on the same day as that on which the treaty, which gave a 
new enemy to the Court of Vienna, was signed at Turin. * The 
time had gone by, and the Directory, which then wished to con- 
ciliate Austria so as to facilitate a definitive peace, showed no haste 
in proposing the ratification of the recently-concluded treaty to the 
Legislative Councils. The Court of Turin relapsed into its former 
anxieties, which were daily increased by the revolutionary move- 
ments then disturbing Italy and penetrating into Piedmont, Avhere 
secret agents employed by the Executive Directory were dissemi- 
nating a spirit of revolt, and the first germs of those disturbances 
which broke out shordy afterwards. 

In allying itself with the French Republic, the Court of Turin 
was far from embracing or condoning the principles of the French 
Revolution. Fear alone had induced it to form that alliance, and 
the Government continued to treat all in the Sardinian States who 
showed any favour to those principles, or appeared as their parti- 
sans, with extreme severity. Barbarous executions had just taken 
place in Sardinia, in consequence of disturbances in the island. 
All persons who evinced friendship for France and her institutions 
were prosecuted, banished, and dismissed from public employ- 

* The preliminaries of Leoben are dated i8th Germinal (April 7). 



98 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

mcnt. and the surest method of incurring disgrace with the Sar- 
dinian Government was to show friendship to its new ally, or to 
rejoice in the triumphs of France. 

On the other hand, the Executive Directory, which at the begin- 
ning woukl perhaps have desired to establish its power on princi- 
ples of moderation, was led away by that extreme party within it 
which was urging Revolution on all the Italian States. This 
party, owing to the victory which it obtained shortly afterwards, on 
the 1 8th Fructidor, acquired the mastery and grasped the whole 
direction of affairs. On neither side, therefore, was there any 
guarantee of lasting harmony between two Governments so utterly 
opposed in their views. Buonaparte alone desired tranquillity for 
Piedmont. He was resolved to permit neither disturbance nor 
agitation on his rear, and he deprecated equally any movements 
that might take place, either for or against political revolution, in 
a country which he desired to maintain in quietude, so as to 
afford him, whatever' happened, a secure and easy retreat. 

It was not, however, in his power to put a stop to the intrigues of 
numerous agents who were personally unknown to him, and who 
had a central rendezvous in Paris. The Executive Directory, 
moreover, began seriously to dread Buonaparte's ascendency in 
Italy, and the totally independent attitude he had assumed since 
the preliminaries at Leoben, and was therefore not unwilling to 
create difficulties for him. During this conflict, a twofold impulse 
was given to affairs ; one, public and patent to all, by Buona- 
parte ; the other, secret and disguised, by a party in the Directory 
and its obscure co-opw^tors. 

This state of things subsisted until the i8th Fructidor. Then 
Buonaparte, obliged to declare himself, supported the extreme 
party (in the revolutionary sense) in the Directory, so as to avoid 
supporting that party no less extreme in ideas, but much more 
timid in action, who desired the return of the Bourbons. It is 
not yet time for me to speak in detail of this event, and of its in- 
fluence on the fate of Piedmont and of Italv. I have said enoufrh 
to show that I took up my residence in Turin at a moment of 
difficulty, the greater because I could not know the real intentions 
of the ICxecutive Directory, divided, as it was. into two factions, 
nor could I guess which of those factions woukl triumph. But 
being incapable by nature of dissimulation, and ignorant of the 
art of adroitly contriving a way out of the (.lilcmma, whichever 
should be the triumphant party, 1 unhesitatingly adopted the line of 
conduct that seemed to accord best with the honour of the French 
name, that of proving my fidelity to the treaties, of refusing all 
countenance to agitators, whatever the mask of patriotism they 
might assume, and holding myself altogether aloof from them. 



TROUBLOUS TIMES. 99 

Acting on these principles, I conformed at once to the customs 
of the country and of the Court to which I was accredited, however 
they might differ from those which the Revolution had introduced 
among ourselves. I carefully avoided any affectation of republican 
austerity in my manners or mode of life which might have been a 
cause of offence. It was at Turin that two Princesses, related by 
ties of blood to the King who had just ascended the throne, had 
sought a refuge. * I allayed the fears which my arrival at Turin 
had excited in his mind ; their place of exile was respected, and I 
supported the request that Mademoiselle de Conde had made to 
the Directory, to be allowed to take up her abode in Piedmont. 
The line of conduct that I adopted was one — as may be imagined 
— far from likely to win the Confidence of the secret agents in the 
employ of the Directory. One of these, a certain Edward Maurin, 
represented the conduct of the Court of Turin in the most unfa- 
vourable light, and sought by every possible imputation to damage 
it M'ith the French Government. Nor did he spare me either, but 
I must do the Minister of Exterior Relations the justice of saying 
that the tale-bearing of this person did not outweigh in his estima- 
tion those documents which he received from a purer source. In 
his report to the Executive Directory, dated ist Germinal, year 
v., he declared that since the new King's accession the conduct of 
the Turin Cabinet had been frank and irreproachable. 

Meanwhile, my endeavours to maintain tranquillity in the coun- 
try by refusing all countenance to those who were incessantly seek- 
ing to promote revolution were powerless to arrest the evil. Secret 
machinations, directed from Paris, exposed the public peace to 
constant danger, and the alarm of the Piedmontese Government 
increased daily, especially as it could not conceal from itself that 
the middle classes inclined towards a change of political system 
which would, at the least, have converted the absolute into a con- 
stitutional monarchy. In Buonaparte alone, up to this time, had 
the Court of Turin felt any confidence ; but, notwithstanding the 
assurances which he continued to give, the changes that had taken 
place at Genoa, and the establishment of the Cisalpine Republic, 
whose constitution was at this very moment being discussed under 
the eyes of the General, rendered the position of a monarchical 
State very precarious, surrounded, as it soon would be, by Gov- 
ernments acting on opposite principles, and animated by ill-con- 
cealed zeal for proselytism. The King, hoping to escape from so 
critical a position, had despatched M. de Saint-Marsan to General 

* The two daughters of Victor-Amadeus ; one of whom had married 
the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII.), and the other the Comte d'Artois 
(Charles X.) . 



lOO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Buonaparte, and the former, by prudent conduct and very distin- 
guished talent, inspired the General with confidence and regard, 
\vhich Buonaparte, when he had become Emperor, felt for liim to 
the last. M. dc Saint-!Marsan, in describing the position of the 
Turin Court, had little difficulty in convincing Buonaparte of the 
dangerous consequences to the French army, of an insurrection 
in Piedmont, and the General, who had not concluded with Aus- 
tria, and had not as yet declared himself for either of the two par- 
ties in the Director}-, perceived them at once. For whichever 
party he might decide, it was necessary that access to Piedmont 
and the passage of the Alps should be free and secure for the 
army, with which he must, in all cases, be in a position to 
threaten Paris. Therefore he had no hesitation in giving to M. 
de Saint-Marsan the strongest assurances of his friendly disposi- 
tion towards the Court c>f Turin, and his satisfaction with the con- 
duct of the Sardinian Government. At the same time he 
announced that he had caused to be arrested several individuals, 
who, after preaching insurrection in Piedmont, had taken refuge 
, in the Milanese territory. These assurances of friendship and, if 
we may say so, of avowed protection are to be found in a despatch 
of the 20th Messidor (July 8), addressed to M. de Saint-Marsan. 
The General sent me a copy of this despatch. The letter which 
he wrote to me, and which accompanied the despatch, ends with 
these words : " I own, my dear ambassador, that this letter (one 
which M. de Saint-Marsan had taken to him) has opened my eyes 
as to the affairs of Piedmont. Since they are so apprehensive, 
something must be going on that we do not know. I beg you to 
inform me precisely of the state of things and of the tone of popu- 
lar feeling. You will understand that it is of the greatest impor- 
tance that Piedmont should be tranquil, in order that my line of 
communication and the rear of my army may be secure." 

The following is an extract from my reply, dated the 24th 
Messidor. 

" It is certain that M. dc Prioca's fears are, at any rate for the 
moment, exaggerated. But it is true, nevertheless, that the politi- 
cal changes which have taken place in the neighbouring States 
have revived the hopes of all who wish for a change particularly 
desired by the middle and best-educated class in Piedmont ; but 
equally deprecated by the two extreme classes — the higher nobility 
and the clergy, on one hand, and the populace on the other. So 
long as we do not favour the Revolutionary party, there will 
be no revolution in Pietlmont ; at least, a singular and hitherto 
improbable concourse of events would be required to produce one 
spontaneously. It is then for you. General, to declare your mind 
strongly, because it is always you whom the Revolutionists put 



CRUELTY OF THE GOVERNMENT. lOI 

forward. But, above all, insist on the ratification of the treaty of 
alliance. That will be the best means of tranquillising the Cabi- 
net of Turin. ' ' 

However, neither the line taken by General Buonaparte, nor 
the pains I took to second it, had sufficient influence to arrest 
movements which received their impetus from another centre of 
action quite independent of us. Disturbances, instead of dimin- 
ishing, increased with redoubled violence during the summer of 
1797, notwithstanding the concessions which the Court of Turin 
had made to public opinion in the hope of preventing them, by 
abolishing feudal prerogatives by an edict of July 29 (nth Ther- 
midor), which suppressed both entails and trusts.* 

The Sardinian Government, however, being assured beforehand 
that the agitators had no support to expect from General Buona- 
parte, proceeded with great energy to put down partial insurrec- 
tions in various places, and succeeded in doing so. But, like all 
weak Governments, which are always the most violent, it afterwards 
inflicted such severe, I may even say atrocious, punishments upon 
the insurgents, that I could not refrain from making some repre- 
sentations, upon the score of common humanity, in the hope of 
checking the course of the horrible executions that were daily tak- 
ing place. This proceeding of mine was not well received by M. 
de Prioca, who complained of it in Paris, through the medium of 
M. de Balbi, as an interference with the internal administration of 
the kingdom, and it was equally disapproved by M. de Talley- 
rand, who had just entered the Ministry of Exterior Relations. 
Both these personages were perhaps formally in the right ; but I the 
less regretted the step I had taken, because I understood that my 
representations did in the end convince the Sardinian Government 
of the need of greater moderation and a different course of action ; 
and on the 24 th of August, a general amnesty was published. 
Buonaparte had >vritten on the 15th Thermidor (August 2) to M. 
de Prioca, congratulating him on the fortunate issue to the crisis 
into which the last disturbances had thrown the Piedmontese Gov- 
ernment. The Directory of the Cisalpine Republic, newly estab- 
lished at Milan, had formally informed the King of Sardinia of its 
installation, and the King recognized that Government and 
received an ambassador from the new Republic. 

Thus the suppression of revolutionary movements in the interior 
of the country, the neutrality observed by France during these dis- 
turbances, the congratulations of General Buonaparte on the suc- 
cess just achieved by the Sardinian Government, and the renewal of 
friendly relations between the Cisalpine Directory and the King of 

* " Les substitutions, et les fidei-commis." 



102 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Sardinia, had all contributed to render the position of the Court of 
Turin belter than it had been since the peace ot the 26th Prairial, 
year IV. Quiet was restored for a lime ; there was, so to speak, a 
truce between the parties. But this state of things did not last 
long. A fresh stomi, far more serious than any that had yet 
broken out, was gathering on the political horizon, and finally led 
rapidly to the ruin of the King of Sardinia. I will endeavour to 
narrate its causes and its various phases, such as they appeared to 
me from my point of view. 

]\I. de Talleyrand, having been appointed by the Executive 
Director}' to the Ministry of Exterior Relations, had entered on his 
office in the month of 'Fhermidor, year V., and I received on the 
1 2th of that month (July ^o, 1797) an official intimation of his 
appointment. The reputation which the new Minister had 
acquired at different epochs of the Revolution and the fame of his 
diplomatic ability had preceded him to the post he was about to 
occupy. Thus I naturally expected that my new chief would 
maintain a correspondence with me at once more regular and more 
statesmanlike than that which his predecessor had kept up. I 
hastened to lay the situation of the countr}^ before him, hoping to 
receive instructions for my guidance in the conduct of affairs, 
which would enable me to take a firmer attitude. But these hopes 
were disappointed ; I received no answer to my communication, 
and in fact it soon became evident to me that M. de Talleyrand, 
observing the agitation in the Directory and Councils, and still 
uncertain which side he should take, hesitated to commit himself 
to any pronounced opinion in his political correspondence. 
Meanwhile, events were hastening on. The Cabinet of Turin, 
better informed than I as to what was taking place in Paris, began 
to flatter itself that the Royalist party of the Rue de Clichy was 
getting the upper hand, and would accomplish the restoration of 
the Bourbons. The hopes to which the possibility of such an 
event gave' birth increased every day, and the Sardinian Govern- 
ment was already taking a tone of self-assertion in its dealings with 
us which it had not hitherto adopted. 

From these various indications I foreboded an approaching 
crisis, but of what character I was unable to divine. As, however, 
I was persuaded that whatever its nature might be, Buonaparte 
would inevitably lay hold of it and up to a cerUain point direct it, 
because one of the two parties must necessarily turn to him to ob- 
tain his support, which neither could do without, I resolved to go 
to him at Milan. I therefore accepted an invitation to visit him, 
which he made me before his departure for Udine, where the 
Conference for the peace with Austria was to be held. M^I. de 
Meerfcld, de Gallo, and Clarke had already arrived there, and were 



THE CLICHY CLIQUE. IO3 

awaiting the arrival of General Buonaparte. But he would not 
start until he had made certain arrangements at Milan, rendered 
necessary by coming events in Paris. 

I left Turin on the 24th Thermidor (August 11), and reached 
Milan on the following day. I found Buonaparte established in 
the Serbelloni* Palace, and more occupied with Paris affairs than 
with the negotiations. During the week which I passed at Milan, 
I had frequent conversations with him, and I will here summarise 
their principal results. 

The Executive Directory and the Legislative Councils were 
divided ; a numerous section wished to restore the Bourbons ; but 
this party was unsupported alike by public opinion and public 
sentiment. It was not even unanimous in its views ; several mem- 
bers of the Clichy clique merely desired the overthrow of that por- 
tion of the Directory which had sprung from the Convention, but 
did not desire the restoration of the ancient dynasty. Among 
those who went farther, some would only consent to a restoration 
under constitutional conditions ; others wanted a conditional resto- 
ration, and aspired, therefore, to a complete counter-revolution. 
The opposite side, which was composed of the former members of 
the Convention, and all those who had taken an active part in the 
events of the Revolution, had the advantage over its adversaries of 
being perfectly agreed upon its aim — the destruction by violent 
measures of the Royalist party ; postponing all dispute as to the 
distribution of authority until it should be reconquered. The 
people, tired of coups d'etat, and of the frequent alternations of 
power, which for four years had been seized upon by opposite 
parties in turn, were not only neutral, but indifferent as to the re- 
sult, and would be mere spectators of the new scenes that were being 
secretly arranged. Thus neither party could rely on the people, 
and consequently neither attempted to stir them up to action. 

This, however, was not the case with the troops. Their influ- 
ence must inevitably insure the success of the party for which they 
should pronounce, and therefore both parties sought their support. 
The Clichy party had intrigued with Pichegru and Moreau ; but 
although those generals, as subsequent events have sufficiently 
proved, declared themselves in its favour, they acted, there is no 
doubt, against the feeling of the soldiery, which at this time was 
distinctly republican, and it was only by underhand means that 
they could hope, not indeed to bring them over to the side of the 
party they wished to serve, but, at best, to mislead and render 
them inactive during the struggle. 

* Serbelloni, at that time President of the Directory of the Cisalpine 
Republic, resided in the Palace of the Government. 



I04 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

It was not thus ^\^th Buonaparte and the army of Italy, and on 
them the democratic party built all its hopes. Success was assured 
if those troops and their chiefs declared themselves in its favour, 
and nothing ought to be neglected to secure Uieir support. 

Talleyrand was the principal intermediary in the commmunica- 
tions which were now established between this party and Buona- 
parte, and I found myself at Milan at the very moment when those 
communications were most active. The General had just formed 
his decision, for the following reasons, as I heard from his own 
lips. 

Nothing could be more opposed to the projects he entertained 
than the recall of the Bourbons. That would ruin all the am- 
bitious hopes, which he afterwards realised, and, judging from 
some documents found in a portfolio belonging to the Count 
d'Entraigues at the time of his arrest in Venice, no doubt could 
exist that their recall was the real object of the majority of the 
Clichy party.* Talleyrand also, who from personal motives was 
equally averse to the return of the ancient dynasty, strongly urged 
him to a course opposed to its recall. Other motives also, of a 
secondary nature, which were not, however, without influence on 
such a mind as his, contributed to inflame him. He would en- 
dure no military renown but his own ; all other annoyed him. 
Carnot in the Directory was an offence. The reputation he had 
acquired during the Convention by the ability he had displayed 
and the direction he had given to the war, he retained as a member 
of the Government. That which INIoreau had made for himself 
with'the army of the Rhine was no less repugnant to Buonaparte, 
who encouraged an angry rivalry between that army and the army 
of Italy, based chiefly upon the outward forms adopted in each. 
The army of Italy glorified in being a revolutionary and citizen 
body, while that of the Rhine passed for an army of Messieurs, as 
it was called at Milan. One division, brought by Bernadotte from 
Germany to Italy, and which was distinguished by more polished 
manners and by the denomination of Messieurs, at that time con- 
sidered to be an aristocratic form, had become a subject of sharp 

* This porifolio was opened at Montebello, 5th Prairial, year V. (May 
24, 1797), by Berihier, in the presence of Buonaparte and Clarke. I do 
not know whether its contents wore immediately forwarded to Paris, or 
whether Buonaparte held them in reserve. It is certain, however, that 
they were not published until the iSth Fructidor (see the " Moniteur" of the 
23d of that month). I only heard of these documents on the occasion of 
my journey to Milan, through the conversations of which I give a summary. 
But it is evident that Buonaparte had alluded to them in the interview 
which took place in Prairial between himself, M. de Melzi and me, and 
this may be an explanation of certain things which he said on that occa- 
ions. 



BUONAPARTE'S JEALOUSY. 105 



jesting, often degenerating into serious quarrels between the officers 
and men of the two armies. Buonaparte encouraged these dis- 
sensions by constant sarcasms pointed at Bernadotte and Moreau. 
In fact, he flattered himself that the party to which he should 
secure the victory would remain entirely dependent upon him, and 
that he should govern in its name. He was mistaken in this, and 
he soon discovered that to have bestowed power is not a reason for 
being admitted to share it. His Minister, Talleyrand, was also 
obliged to acknowledge the truth of this maxim after the Restora- 
tion. 

To resume. Buonaparte had no sooner made up his mind, 
from the motives I have just enumerated, to back the Revolution- 
ary party in the Directory, than he began to act on his decision 
with all the vigour and activity of his impetuous character. Avail- 
ing himself as a pretext of the anniversary of the 14th of July, 
1789, he organized a military fete at Milan on the ist Thermidor 
(July 19). Five divisions of the anny were brought together to 
solemnize the occasion, and each of them published addresses 
vying with the other in threats and insults directed against the Gov- 
ernment of the Republic, and the Monarchical faction. The 
divisions commanded by Augereau and by Massena were especially 
remarkable for the violence of their language. * * Are there more 
obstacles on the road to Paris than on that to Vienna?"* 
* * Tremble ! from the Adige to the Rhine and to the Seine there 
is but a step, ' ' \ Such was the text more or less enlarged on in 
these diatribes. The toasts at the banquet were all conceived in 
the same spirit, and announced similar intentions. The address 
of Bernadotte' s division only is in less highly colored language, and 
is indeed remarkable for moderation, J a circumstance which did 
not tend to restore harmony between that division, which had been 
only lately incorporated with the army of Italy, and its original 
regiments. 

After this demonstration, which left no doubt of Buonaparte's 
intentions and created a profound impression in Paris, he had no 
longer any appearances to keep up ; moreover, it was not in his 
nature to shrink from consequences, whatever they might be, when 
once he had made up his mind to a course of action. He there- 
fore kept a body of troops in readiness to enter France, if that 
which Hoche was already leading on Paris should not be suf- 
ficient, and he had already sent forward Augereau to command 
it. Augereau was a brave and daring leader, but impulsive, and 

* Address of Massena's division (" Moniteur" of the 26th Thermidor, 
year V.). 

t Address of Augereau's division (Ibid.). 
See " Moniteur" of same date. 



Io6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

without any intellectual capacity. He had also sent Bemadotte to 
Paris, the bearer ot twenty-one flags taken at the battle of RivoH, 
and in a letter to the Directory announcing their despatch he had 
highly praised that General. But his chief object was to get rid of 
a man with whom he was already not on good terms, and whose 
influence he wanted to weaken. 

He was now master of the held, at the head of a triumphant and 
devoted army, whose j)atriotism and unreasoning love of libertv he 
had just roused to an enthusiastic pitch ; he reckoned on unfailing 
success, and even flattered himself that he might at once make use 
of it to further the designs he had formed, and which he realised 
two years later. He appeared to me to reckon especially on the 
effect which the publication of the papers found in DEntraigues' 
portfolio would produce ; this led me to presume that he had not 
laid them before the Director)' until after he had resolved on sup- 
porting the Revolutionary party. As he had still, however, to 
wait, before his departure for Udine, for some letters from Paris, 
which did not arrive until two or three days later, he profited by 
the kind of inaction which always supervenes between great resolu- 
tions and their execution, to make an excursion to Lake Mag- 
giore ; and he invited me to accompany him. My desire to see 
that celebrated lake, and at the same time to prolong my stay with 
so extraordinary a man, whom I should have an opportunity of 
knowing and appreciating better in the course of this little excur- 
sion, made me accept so agreeable a proposal with readiness. 

We left Milan on the ist Fructidor (August i8). I had a place 
in Buonaparte's carriage with his wife and Berthier. During the 
drive, he was gay and animated, told us several anecdotes of his 
youth, and said diat he had just completed his twenty-ninth year. 
He was extremely attentive to his w-ife, frequently taking little 
conjugal liberties that rather embarrassed Berthier and me ; but 
his free and easy manners were so full of affection and tenderness 
towards a woman as lovable as she was good, that they might easily 
be excused. Althcnigh the conversation occasionally turned on 
grave matters, he did not betray the subject that was engrossing his 
thoughts. He avoided talking politics before Berthier, whom he 
valued only for his usefulness as chief of the staff, the duties of 
which post he fulflllcd with marvellous activity — no one could 
surpass him in that quality. 

In speaking f)f Talleyrand, Buonaparte took occasion to praise 
him, his humour, and his ability, and in this the Generars wife 
agreed. The conversation turned also on other personages who 
might play a part in public affairs in Paris, and among these, I 
named Roederer, dwelling on his penetration, his ability as a writer 
and his extensive knowledge. Buonaparte, however, expressed an 



ISOLA BELLA. 10/ 



extreme aversion to him. He severely censured his conduct 
toward Louis XVI. and the Royal Family on the loth of August, 
declaring that it combined both treason and duplicity, and adding 
that he could never feel confidence in a man who had laid himself 
open to such ^ reproach. I did my best to defend him, but 
Madame Buonaparte did not support me ; she, like Berthier, kept 
silence. The sequel has shown that Roederer succeeded in over- 
coming Buonaparte's aversion ; probably his services on the i8th 
Brumaire blotted out the recollection of the loth of August. 

After a journey which the heat of the season made rather fa- 
tiguing, although we did most of our travelling during the night, we 
arrived at the shore of Lake Maggiore, and took up our abode at 
the magnificent palace erected in the centre of Isola Bella, the most 
beautiful of the islands which rise from the bosom of the lake. I 
will not enter here into a description of these lovely scenes. Art 
is unfortunately sometimes too conspicuous in them ; but the 
charms which they owe to Nature solely made an uneffaceable im- 
pression on my mind. The snow-capped summits of St. Gothard 
and the Simplon reflected in the clear and tranquil waters of the 
lake ; the Ticino rushing in torrents from the mountain heights, 
and mingling its waters with those of that vast reservoir, whence it 
afterwards escapes to fertilise the plains ♦of Lombardy by countless 
streams ; the smiling hill-sides dotted with dwellings which bound 
the lake on the north, and the rich harvest covering the plains 
bathed by its waters on the south, all contributed at this period of 
the year to render. the panorama which passed before our eyes more 
splendid than at any other season, and at the same time more en- 
chanting on account of its perfect tranquillity. We enjoyed the 
delicious calm ; it contrasted with the terrible scenes of war so 
close to us, and calmed the agitation into which the presentiment 
of an uncertain Future had thrown us. 

Those two days at Isola Bella were most agreeable. Walking, 
bathing, and the pleasures of the table filled up our every moment, 
and it was with regret that we quitted the delightful scene to return 
to Milan. There we would have to re-enter the vortex from which 
it had been delightful to me to escape, though for so brief an in- 
terval. 

After our return from the Borromean Islands, I remained only 
a few days at Milan. Buonaparte at last started for Udine, and I 
set out in order to resume the duties of my post at Turin. Before 
we parted, we had settled upon the line of conduct which I was to 
pursue in the critical circumstances which impending events in 
Paris would probably bring about. The following was the plan 
adopted : 

I. Not only was I to take no part in any political troubles which 



Io8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

might break out in Piedmont, but to tender an assurance that our 
troops should even be employed to disperse any gatherings of 
people which might take place on the territory of the Cisalpine Re- 
publics or of Genoa, the centres of insurrection in the States of the 
King of Sardinia. 

2. I Avas to demand of the Sardinian Government that, in order 
to carr}' out the treaty of alliance, the ten thousand men to be sup- 
})lied by Piedmont be again assembled at Novara in readiness to 
march, if fresh hostilities with Austria should break out. 

3. At the same time that I should require this movement of the 
troops, in order to support the negotiations in progress at Udine, I 
was to press for the ratification of the treaty of alliance by the Leg- 
islative Council in Paris, as the best guarantee to the Cabinet of 
Turin of the real intentions of the Executive Directory. 

4. I was to insist, however, since quiet had been restored in 
Piedmont, on the cessation of severe measures which were keeping 
up a feeling of irritation injurious to the real interests of the King 
of Sardinia. 

Furnished with these instructions, on the 7th Fructidor I reached 
Turin (August 22), where I had left M. Jacob as Charged' Affaires. 
His correspondence with the Sardinian Government during my ab- 
sence had been principally on the subject of an unfriendly discus- 
sion which had arisen between the Minister and me respecting the 
steps I had taken to put an end to the excessive severity of the 
Cabinet of Turin toward those persons Avho had taken part in the 
last insurrection. j\I. de Prioca had complained bitterly at Paris 
of my conduct in this respect, and I was not unaware of the fact. 
In an inter\iew with him a few days after my return, during which 
I again insisted on the necessity of more moderate measures, ad- 
\'ancing General Buonaparte's opinion in support of my demands, 
jNI. de Prioca replied that the French Government took no interest 
in the fate of the condemned, and had, on the contrary, highly 
approved of , the conduct of the Piedmontese Ministry; and in 
truth, M. de Talleyrand, as I have said before, had disapproved 
of my interference, without, however, owning that he had used the 
words attributed to him by M. de Balbi, and which M. de Prioca 
had repeated to me. It was plain, from these facts, that the Cabinet 
of Turin, in the constant persuasion that a coming crisis would re- 
store a Monarchical Government in France, with which it would 
be better able to agree, was using its influence at Paris to get me 
recalled. I do not know whether in so doing it acted wisely ; it is 
certain that my successors consummated the ruin of the Mon- 
archy ; and that I, on the contrary, so far as it lay in my power, 
had contributed to its preservation. Nevertheless, I endeavoured 
with no less zeal to obtain the ratification of the treaty, to which 



THE TREATY. lOQ 



the Sardinian Government attached great importance at that time. 
But nothing decisive was done, and the daily expectation of a 
crisis, which it was thought must occur, kept all business in sus- 
pense. 

The catastrophe was not long delayed. The i8th Fructidor 
brought about the ruin of the Royalist party, but the Constitution 
of the year III. fell with it. That day dealt it a blow from which 
it never entirely recovered ; the i8th Brumaire completed the 
work, and on both the one and the other occasion Buonaparte 
was the agent of its destruction. It had not been in existence two 
years when it received this first great check. Afterwards it de- 
clined away, and until its final overthrow was a Revolutionary 
rather than a regular Government. 

A few days after the i8th Fructidor, I received a letter from M. 
de Talleyrand, probably a copy of a circular letter addressed to 
all the diplomatic agents containing a complete Apologia of that 
day. I communicated this document to the Sardinian Govern- 
ment, which being forced to renounce the imperious attitude it 
had hitherto taken, and more alarmed than ever for its own exist- 
ence, now openly threatened by the triumph of the democratic 
party in France, showed itself better disposed and amenable than 
before. Fresh requests were made to me to obtain the ratification 
of the treaty of alliance ; but the shape that Buonaparte was giv- 
ing to the peace-negotiations at Udine made the aid that had been 
asked of Piedmont less necessary, and the expectation of this 
always-deferred ratification prolonged the suspense of the Turin 
Cabinet from day to day. At last the ardently-desired instrument 
arrived. Although M. de Talleyrand had written to me on the 
14 th Vendemiaire, year IV. (Octobers, 1797), that circumstances 
would no longer permit us to contemplate this alliance, the Direc- 
tory, probably urged by Buonaparte, suddenly changed front, and 
two or three days afterwards sent the treaty to the two Councils for 
ratification. But the alliance was effected too late to save Pied- 
mont ; moreover. Royalty was about to lose its only support in 
Italy. Buonaparte was to remain there no longer, and his influ- 
ence on the fate of Italy was on the point of ceasing. In order to 
make these matters plain, I must go back a little. 

I have sufficiently explained Buonaparte' s motives for support- 
ing the .democratic party in the Directory, and his adhesion secured 
its triumph on the 1 8th Fructidor. It was sufficiently clear that 
the principles professed by this party were not those which the Gen- 
eral wished to defend, and that he had in no wise adopted them ; 
but he was obliged to choose between two parties, of which one, 
had it carried the day, would necessarily have brought back the 
Bourbons and ruined forever his ulterior designs, so he decided in 



no MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

favour of that party which some day he might more easily overthrow, 
and on whose ruins he might estabhsh his ONvn power. Perhaps 
he even beheved the catastrophe to be then at hand, and it was 
only on examining the situation more closely that he was convinced 
the moment had not yet arrived. In any case, it was needful that 
Peace should be the first gift of the new Government that owed its 
birth to the i8th Fructidor, in order to compensate for the alarm 
which that day had caused every sincere friend of liberty. The 
Directory felt this, and no longer opposed any measure which 
might bring about that result. On the other hand, Buonaparte, 
observing the eagerness of the Director)-, justly feared that the 
matter might be concluded without him ; and this would indeed 
have been easily done, either by carrying the negotiations on in 
France, or by entrusting them to Augereau, who had just been 
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army in Germany. Finally, 
he could cede to no -other the credit of making peace, for he in- 
tended to assume that France and the Directory itself were behold- 
en to him for it. He therefore hastened on the end. The nego- 
tiations, which had dragged along for more than six months, were 
now carried on with despatch, and peace was concluded at Campo- 
Formio (near Udine) on the 26th Vendemiaire, year IV. (October 
I7> ^797 )> one month and twelve days after the i8th Fructidor. 
The treaty is signed by Buonaparte alone, in the name of the 
French Government. Clarke was not admitted to the honour of 
signing, although he had gone to Udine as one of the Plenipoten- 
tiaries. Buonaparte suffered no other name beside his, that the 
gratitude on which he relied might not be divided. 

But this gratitude weighed especially on the Directory, which 
soon showed how heavy a burden it was. Buonaparte had sent 
Berthier and IMonge to the Directory as bearers of the treaty of 
Campo-Formio. They reached Paris on the 4th Brumaire (Octo- 
ber 25). The Directory ratified the treaty on the 5th, and on the 
same day-appointed Buonaparte Commander-in-Chief of an army 
which was to be assembled on the coast, and to which was given 
the pcjmpous name of the Army of England. 

By this appointment Buonaparte was snatched from the scenes of 
his conquests, and separated from the army he had so often led to 
victory, and which was entirely devoted to him. The ties which 
had been formed between the illustrious Captain and his soldiers 
were broken, and the Director}- hoped to escape from all the at- 
tempts upon which an ambitious mind, relying on so many glorious 
deeds and on the devotion of the troops, might venture against a 
power still dazzled by an unexpected elevation, a power, nevertheless, 
sup})orted neither by public opinion nor by renown, and which the 
least shock might overthrow. 



THE TURIN CABINET. Ill 

Although the appointment of Buonaparte to the command of 
the new army was accompanied by the most flattering expressions 
of esteem, and the Directory added a striking mark of confidence 
by entrusting the political conduct of the negotiations about to be 
opened at Rastadt for treating for peace with the German Empire,* 
to the Conqueror and Peacemaker, Buonaparte could not mistake 
the real meaning of the Directory. From that moment he formed 
a resolution to remain in France only if he could in one way or 
another place himself at the head of affairs, but if he should find 
that the times were not yet ripe to afford him the position he aimed 
at, as the only one suited to his genius, to absent himself on some 
extraordinary expedition which would add to his fame. 

The news of the recall of General Buonaparte, and the absolute 
silence of the Campo-Formio Treaty as to Piedmont, threw the 
Turin Cabinet into the greatest ferment. It addressed itself once 
more to me, but I could serve it but little. I foresaw already that 
immediately on Buonaparte's departure from Italy, the Revolu- 
tionary party would again get the upper hand ; that I should be 
by no means favourably regarded by that party, which, as M. Botta 
wrote, f looked upon me as a lukewarm republican, and that it 
would very soon be powerful enough to remove me. I could 
therefore neither sway the action of the Directory, nor tranquillise 
the uneasiness of the Court of Turin on this subject. M. de 
Talleyrand, moreover, instructed me to avoid entering on any 
explanation respecting the consequences of the treaty with Aus- 
tria ; so that the reserve that I was compelled to adopt increased 
the alarm of the Government, which perceived that it was in more 
danger than ever at the very time when it had reckoned on a 
greater security. My relations with it dwindled day by day, until 
our interviews were restricted to discussions relating to the execu- 
tion of the secret convention annexed to the treaty of alliance of 
the 20th Germinal, year V., by which the island of Sardinia was 
ceded to us ; discussions which resulted in nothing, and to a 
rather troublesome correspondence on the emigres in Nice and 
Savoy, to whom the Directory, which had become more suspi- 
cious, now wanted to forbid asylum there. It was at this time that, 
having been again questioned respecting the residence of the 
Comtesse d'Artois at Turin, I succeeded in procuring the exemp- 
tion of that Princess from the laws against emigration, which were 
then being rigorously enforced. 

Such was the state of affairs in Piedmont, and such were the 



* This Congress was to take place in virtue of one of the articles of the 
treaty of Campo-Formio. 

f In his " Histoire desGuerres d'ltalie." 



112 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

causes that had brought it about, when Berthier, after he had pre- 
sented the treaty of Campo-Formio at a solemn audience on the 
loth Biumaire, year VI. (October 31, 1797),* returned to Milan 
and took command of the army of Italy, which Buonaparte, who 
was preparing for departure, had handed over to him. Joseph 
Buonaparte had already parted with his brother and gone, as am- 
bassador, to Rome. He was accompanied by his wife, his young- 
est brother, Jerome Buonaparte, and his sister Caroline. 

Buonaparte left Milan on the 26th Brumaire, and arrived at 
Turin on the morning of the 28th. His wife had preceded him 
by a few days, on her way to Paris. She dined at my house, and 
brought with her a casket containing some valuable trinkets, from 
which she could not bear to be separated for a moment. 

Buonaparte had sent me word that he would be at Turin on the 
morning of the 27th Brumaire ; but he did not leave Milan until 
the night of the 26th,- too late to keep his promise. I waited for 
him in vain until midnight, and then withdrew. 

I was aroused at half-past two in the morning of the 28th. 
Buonaparte had just arrived, and while the dinner that had been 
prepared for the preceding evening was being got ready, I 
remained for an hour by the fireside alone with the General. 
From notes I made at the time, I will now give an exact account 
of our inten'iew. 

He took up the conversation almost where he had dropped it 
on the occasion of our last interviews at Milan. He defended the 
resolution he had Uiken to support the i8th Fructidor, by argu- 
ments which I have already recorded. " But do not imagine, " 
continued he, " that I resolved on so doing because of any con- 
formity of ideas with those of the men whom I supported. I did 
not choose that the Bourbons should return, especially if brought 
back by Moreau's army and by Pichegru. The papers found in 
D'Kntraigues' portfolio had sufficiently enlightened me as to the 
projects of those two Generals. I do not care to play the part of 
Monk ; I will not play it myself, and I do not choose that others 

. * See " Moniteur" of 12th Brumaire, for the details of this ceremony, 
and for the curious speeches delivered by Berthier and Monge. 

Bernadotle, who had returned to Milan about a month previously, and 
had resumed the command of his division, expected to succeed Buonaparte, 
but, probably because the Directory had already formed the hostile views 
with regard to Italy, which were afterwards made manifest, and which 
Bernadotte would not perhaps have zealously seconded, he was ap- 
pointed to the Embassy of Vienna, and left Milan for Paris towards the 
middle of Brumaire. I saw him on his way through Turin, when he in- 
formed me of his appointment, which was not as yet officially known. He 
did not proceed to Vienna until the beginning of Ventose, year VI. (end 
of February, 17^3). 



BUONAPARTE AT TURIN. II3 

shall do so. But those Paris lawyers who have got into the 
Directory* understand nothing of government. They are poor 
creatures. I am going to see what they want to do at Rastadt ; 
but I doubt much that we shall understand each other, or long 
agree together. "They are jealous of me, I know, and notwith- 
standing all their flattery, I am not their dupe ; they fear more 
than they love me. They were in a great hurry to make me 
General of the army of England, so that they might get me out of 
Italy, where I am the master, and am more of a sovereign than 
commander of an army. They will see how things go on when I 
am not there. I am leaving Berthier, but he is not fit for the 
chief command, and, I predict, will only make blunders. As for 
myself, my dear Miot, I may inform you, I can no longer obey ; 
I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up. I have made 
up my mind, if I cannot be master I shall leave France ; I do not 
choose to have done so much for her and then hand her over to 
lawyers. As for this country" (speaking of Piedmont), " it will 
not be at rest for long. I have done all in my power to secure the 
tranquillity of the King, but the Directory is surrounded by a set of 
patriots and idealists who understand nothing of politics. They 
will set Italy in flames, and get us driven out some day. ' ' 

" In that case," I replied, " I do not think they will leave me 
here. I am far from sharing their exaggerated ideas. I have got 
on well with you, but I do not think I could get on with others. 
Will you ask for an appointment in Germany for me ?' ' 

Buonaparte promised that he would do so. I spoke to him 
next of the Court of Turin. ' ' I will not go to it, ' ' he answered ; 
' ' I want no fetes, no attentions. I do not choose to deceive, and 
my presence at Court or ar interview with the King would raise 
hopes which I could not realise ; he would believe himself to be 
secure if I accepted distinctions and favours from him ; and he 
would find out his mistake." 

Accordingly, during the thirteen hours that he passed at Turin 
he did not leave my house. When our conversation was over, we 
sat down to table. It was then four in the morning. 

Day had hardly dawned when a crowd, attracted by curiosity 
and the desire of seeing so famous a General, assembled before my 
house. The King sent one of his principal officers with compli- 
ments on the part of his Majesty. Buonaparte aftei*wards received 
the Ministers, and welcomed M. de Saint- Marsan with special fer- 
vour. He also received the generals and superior officers who 
were in Turin, as well as some private individuals who tried to in- 

* Merlin (of Douai) and Fran9ois de Neufchateau, who had been 
elected in place of Barthelemy and Carnot. 



114 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

duce him to favour a revolution in Piedmont. But he gave no 
heed to these sugt^estions. In the course of the morning the 
King sent him a very fine Sardinian horse. The Queen* had hung 
on the animal's neck a necklace of precious stones, the last of her 
jewels ; she hatl sacrificed all the others to the needs of the State. 
Buonaparte could not venture to refuse either the horse or the 
necklace, but he seemed moved by this pathetic gift and the cir- 
cumstances under which it was offered. ^ To the King's officers 
who had brought it he presented snuff-boxes set in diamonds, and 
\aluable rings, and made presents to the royal household greatly 
exceeding in value those which he had accepted. 

He drove away in his carriage at four in the afternoon, crossed 
]\Iont Cenis the next day, and passing through Switzerland arrived 
at Bale on the 5th Frimaire (Nov. 25). He proceeded thence to 
Rastadt, where he remained only a short time, and finally reached 
Paris on the i6th Frimaire (December 6). 

At the time of Buonaparte's departure the Cabinet of Turin, 
becoming more and more uneasy, had caused some suggestions to 
be made to him by M. de Saint- INIarsan, to the effect that Sardinia 
should be represented at the Congress of Rastadt ; but they were 
evaded. I, however, consented to grant an ordinary traveller's 
passport for Germany to the Cavaliere Napioni, by means of which 
he proceeded to Rastadt. The Court of Turin, coldly treated by 
France, was trying at that time to ally itself with Austria, which 
just then was re-entering Italy by the cession of Venice, as stipu- 
lated in the treaty of peace at Campo-Formio. But all these 
endeavours, all these expedients of a constrained policy, were des- 
tined to failure, from the force of circumstances, and the new de- 
parture which affairs had taken in France since the i8th Fructidor. 
In virtue of the first treaty of the 26th Ploreal, year IV. (May 15, 
1796), we held several fortified places in Piedmont ;f and so long 
as Buonaparte remained at the head of the army of Italy, the com- 
mandants of the French troops in these places exercised military 
authority only. But hardly had he crossed the Alps, than those 
commandants began to assume a political attitude, assisted instead 
of restraining the enterprise of agitators, and promulgated orders 
for the expulsion of emif^res from Nice and Savoy, before the ques- 
tion of right of asylum had been decided between the French and 
Sardinian Governments. General Casablanca, renowned for his 
military feats, and especially for the defence of Calvi in 1794, but 
in other respects a passionate and reckless man, particularly distin- 

* Madame Clotilde of France, si'^ter to Louis XVI. 
f Coni, Ceva, Tortona, Exillcs, la Brunette, Alexandria, &c. See 
Article 12 of treaty (*' Moniteur" of 4ih Prairial, year IV.). 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH BARRAS. II5 



guished himself by every kind of violence. I sent complaints of 
his conduct to Paris, but was not listened to. 

Casablanca kept up a correspondence with Barras, in which I 
was not spared by a man who had much to do with the overthrow 
of the throne of^the kings of Sardinia. It would, however, be 
giving him too much credit to suppose that he acted thus either 
through conviction or from principle ; he was merely an instru- 
ment in the hands of the secret agents employed by the Directory 
in Italy. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Author is recalled from the Embassy at Turin, and is succeeded by 
Ginguen^ — Joseph Buonaparte, having left Rome after the assassina- 
tion of General Duphot, stays with the Author at Turin, on his way to 
Paris — Berthier marches on Rome, overthrows the Pope's Government 
and proclaims the Roman Republic— Monge and Dannou, being sent 
by the Directory to organize the new Republic, pass through Turin- - 
The hostile dispositions of the Directory towards the King of Sardinia 
are more and more openly displayed — Gingu6n6, accompanied by 
Garat, arrives at Turin on his way to Naples as Ambassador there — 
The Author presents his letters of recall to the King of Sardinia, and 
takes advantage of his leisure to make an excursion in the Alps — On 
returning, he leaves for Paris — Sketch of the state of Italy at the be- 
ginning of 179S, and of the events that took place after the departure 
of the Author. 

Towards the end of 1797, when the storm that hung over Pied- 
mont was gathering volume from ever^' quarter, I learned from a 
letter written by the Minister of Exterior Relations, on the 5th 
Nivose, year XI. (December 25, 1797), that the Directory had 
thought proper to recall me, and to appoint M. Ginguen^ as my 
successor. As, however, this letter did not assign any motive for 
my recall, I remained ofiicially ignorant of the reasons for that 
step, but I have said enough to make them intelligible to the 
reader. From the moment that I was apprised of my recall, I be- 
gan to long ardently for the arrival of my successor. The Sardin- 
ian Government, which was probably informed that I had been 
recalled' before I knew the fact, considered itself dispensed from 
any consideration for me. The disturbances which were breaking 
out in every direction, and by which the safety of the French sol- 
diers who passed through Piedmont was frequently endangered, 
gave rise to a disagreeable and fruitless correspondence. I received 
no directions from my Government, and I was ignorant of the in- 
structions that had been given to my successor. The latter unfor- 
tunately had resolved on converting a diplomatic journey into one 
of self-improvement, and after having taken two months to make 
up his mind to leave Paris, he turned his steps towards Switzerland, 
and did not arrive in Turin until more than three months after 
his nc>mination. 

Those three mbnths of suspense were verj' painful to me, for I 



JOSEPH BUONAPARTE ARRIVES. II7 

found myself deprived of all moral influence, and I had become, 
as it were, a stranger to our diplomacy, which the Directory had 
jalmost entirely remodelled since the i8th Fructidor.* Evidently 
the project of revolutionising Italy was beginning to preponderate. 
Every man appointed, that was made in Paris, among whom I 
hasten to acknowledge that there were men of real merit and in- 
corruptible honesty, such as Garat and Ginguene, owed his pro- 
motion more or less to the dogmatic and proselytising spirit which 
was for awhile triumphant, but which, lacking the support of either 
military success or civic worth, raised up for us implacable ene- 
mies in Italy, and ultimately drove us out of that country. 

In this state of things, I was endeavouring still to hold my posi- 
tion with dignity, when, on the 25th Nivose (January 14, 1798), 
Joseph Buonaparte and his family arrived unexpectedly. He had 
left Rome abruptly, after the events which took place there on the 
6th of the same month (December 26), and resulted in the assas- 
sination of General Duphot. Rumours of these events had already 
reached us, but I knew none of the details. Joseph passed one 
day at my house in Turin, and then immediately resumed his jour- 
ney to Paris. From the particulars which he gave me, I foresaw 
that the legitimate pretext for seizing upon Rome which such ex- 
cesses would furnish to the Directory, would be eagerly embraced, 
and that a Revolution which would shortly spread all over Italy 
must ensue. We congratulated each other on our not being 
obliged to witness that revolution, and we agreed to meet in Paris, 
where I hoped he would precede me by a few days only. I have 
already said that the delay in the arrival of Ginguene detained me 
at Turin much longer than I then expected. 

Only a short time elapsed ere the consequences of the events at 
Rome became manifest. Berthier, whom Buonaparte had left at 
Milan, received orders towards the end of Nivose to march on 
Rome. He arrived there on the 27th Pluviose (February 13), 
drove out the Pope, proclaimed the restoration of the Roman 
Republic, made a ridiculous speech at the Capitol, and despatched 
to Paris as a trophy — the Pope's walking-stick ! But he did not 
make a long stay at Rome. Buonaparte, who was then planning 
the expedition to Egypt, recalled him to Paris, and he was suc- 
ceeded in the command of the army of Rome by Massena, who 
was appointed on 6th Ventose (February 24). General Brune had 



* Guillemardet was appointed, at this period, ambassador to Spain, 
Garat to Naples, Sotin to Genoa, Gingu6ne to Turin, and Trouve to 
the Cisalpine Republic at Milan. Everything in our Exterior Relations 
was assuming a new complexion, and the whole system established by 
Buonaparte in Italy was overturned by these appointments. 



Il8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

already succeeded Bertliier in tlie command of the army of Italy — -,- 
its headquarters were still at Milan. ' 

Before receivini^ information that the French troops had reached 1 
Rome, the Executive Directory which, reasonably enough, enter- - 
tained no doubt of the success of that expedition, had hastened to> 
appoint Commissioners to organise the future Republic. Monger 
and Dannou were chosen for the task, both men of great worth, 
but more given to political theories than distinguished for knowl- 
edge of the world, and consequently little fitted for the manage- 
ment of men. I saw them at the end of Pluviose (towards the mid- 
dle of February) on their way through Turin, when they paid me 
a visit, accompanied by M. de St. Martin, who was formerly 
almoner to the Paris National Guard, and at present Secretary to > 
the Commission. The visit was a purely formal one. They said I 
verv' litde of the object of their mission, sought for no information . 
from me upon the present state of Italy, and would not even ac- 
cept the dinner to which I invited them. They were going to > 
make a revolution, to restore the former Roman Republic, and 
those things were miracles in which I did not believe. They dis- 
covered afterwards which of us had judged rightly. I was sooner 
undeceived than they, and had over them the melancholy advan- 
tage of foreseeing that, with the instruments of which we were 
obliged to make use, with generals and agents equally corrupt and 
greedy of gain, it was perfectly visionary to attempt the regenera- 
tion of an ignorant and fanatical populace. 

But I must do both Monge and Dannou the justice to say that 
they were actuated by the purest motives and uninfluenced by any 
desire of personal gain. Dannou' s high-mindedness never varied 
for a single instant ; and if Monge, his colleague, displayed less 
firmness of principle, the immense services he has rendered to sci- 
ence, and especially to its diffusion, will cause some litde weak- 
ness of character to be forgotten, and posterity, remembering his 
merits -only, will hold his name in undying honour. 

While ^longc and Dannou, full of hopes that were not to be 
realised, were hastening towards Rome, the Cabinet of Turin, 
aware of their mission, of the Director)'' s projects against the 
authority of the Pope, and of the revolution which was brewing in 
the centre of lUily, was much cast down, and now dreaded the 
arrival of Gingu6n6 as much as it had recently desired my recall. 
Meanwhile, it sought to avert the undeniably imminent danger, by 
renewing the negotiations for the accomplishment of the conven- 
tion annexed to the treaty of alliance of 26th Germinal, year V., 
and M. dc lialbi had presented on i6di Ventose, year VI. (March 
6, 1798), the outline of a treaty for the exchange of the island of 
Sardinia, againsf the States of the Infant of Parma, annexing to it 



GINGUfiNE. 119 



the title of King. But the coldness with which this proposition 
was 'received, served only to confirm the fears with which the hos- 
tile attitude of the Executive Power inspired the Sardinian Gov- 
ernment. For my own part, as all my efforts on behalf of this 
proposition, and -also those which I made to obtain an exact ex- 
planation with respect to Piedmont, were equally fruitless, I was 
convinced that the final intention of the Directory was to abandon 
that unhappy country to its fate ; and so I left off all political cor- 
respondence, deeming it henceforth superfluous, and confined my- 
self to the formal business of the embassy. I observed this atti- 
tude of reserve while expecting from day to day the arrival of my 
successor, who was to bring with him fresh instructions, and prob- 
ably the sentence of the Directory upon Sardinia. 

Ginguene arrived at Turin on the 3d Germinal, year VI. 
(March 2'^, 1798). He had travelled with Garat, who was going 
as ambassador to Naples. They were both very clever men, but 
in proportion as I took pleasure in conversing with them on liter- 
ar}^ and philosophical subjects, I was surprised at their diplomatic 
language, and their strange ideas of the functions which they were 
about to fulfil. They were quite in the clouds ; they were pre- 
ceptors of kings, and not ambassadors. As they had never had 
any experience of the difficulties which the habits and prejudices of 
peoples oppose to innovators, they seemed to be unaware that time 
only wears out errors, that they must be sapped at their bases by 
the patient spread of instruction in the lower classes of society, and 
that to attack prejudices in the front is to give them new strength. 
Not such were the means which these gentlemen proposed to em- 
ploy. They were resolved to respect neither public nor private 
manners or customs, to conform to no usages, and, above all, to 
withstand the etiquette of courts. They intended to be as inflexi- 
ble in outward forms as in principles, and brought philosophical 
intolerance to the overthrow of religious intolerance. I soon per- 
ceived that I could not attain to their height, and that they pitied 
my simplicity and the timid course I had observed. 

At our first meeting, Ginguene assured me that his wife, the 
French ambassadress, * would never submit to the ridiculous cos- 
tume of the Turin Court, but would go to Court in a white gown, 
a bonnet, and white cotton stockings. I replied that I had 
thought it well to act in a contrary manner ; that on principle I 
would never offend against established usage, especially in such 
trifles as the shape of a gown, or a head-dress ; that my wife had 

* This title is given by courtesy only. The wife of an ambassador is 
not an ambassadress. M. de Talleyrand ridiculed Ginguen6, in his cor- 
respondence, for giving the title of ambassadress to his wife. 



120 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

conformed to the customs of the country, without incurring blame 
from any quarter whatsoever ; but that probably he had very good 
reasons for not imitating my conduct. He next asked me if I 
had made any speech to the King on presenting my letters of credit. 
I replied that I had not, and that having been received, as he 
himself would be, at a private audience, nothing would have 
seemed to me more inappropriate than to deliver a speech, either 
from writing, or from memory, to a man, with whom I was tete- 
a-tete, so that there could be no one present to testify to what I 
had said. He answered that he should nevertheless make his 
speech, and that, moreover, he should have it published. I re- 
turned, that undoubtedly he must have reasons for acting thus, 
and that no doubt they were excellent ones. Garat, who was pres- 
ent at our conversation, strongly approved the intentions of Gin- 
guene, which I indeed in no wise controverted. Nor had we any 
other discussion, and 1 feel bound to say that, with the exception 
of these little differences of opinion, there was a similarity in our 
principles conducive to mutual esteem. 

Ginguene brought me my letters of recall. On 5th Germinal 
(]\Iarch 25) I presented them to the King, who was good enough 
to express some regret at losing me ; and if he already felt a pre- 
sentiment of the misfortunes which soon were to overwhelm him, 
I must believe his regret to have been sincere. Ginguene had an 
audience on the nth of the same month, made his speech, and 
took the direction of affairs, which I gladly handed over to him. 

Free, as I now was, from all official cares, I wished before re- 
turning to my own country, from which I had been absent more 
than three years, to profit by a few weeks of pleasant leisure to 
make an excursion in the Alps. 

I left Turin on 15th Germinal (April 4), and passed the night 
at the house of the Count de Brusasco, with whom I had become in- 
timate during my residence in Piedmont, and who resided on the 
pretty estate of the same name, at a short distance from Crescen- 
tino on the banks of the Po. I spent two very pleasant days 
there, in the company of my host, a man of remarkable talents 
and a good musician. From thence, I resumed my journey, in 
company with the venerable Molineri, an excellent botanist,* one 
of the fellow-workers of the famous Allioni, in the classification of 
the P'lora of Piedmont. Notwithstanding his age. he consented to 
accompany me on my excursion, and his knowledge of natural 
histor)', and his familiarity with the mountains I was about to visit, 
and which he had already explored several times, were of infinite 
ser\'ice to me. 

* He was attached as head gardener to the Valentino Botanical Gar- 
dens, near Turin. 



THE VALLEY OF THE DOIRA. 121 

We went first up the valley of the Doira-Baltea, * from Ivrea to 
Aosta, where we arrived on 19th Germinal (April 8), and though 
it was as yet very early in the season, my companion remarked and 
pointed out to me a number of rare plants, which we gathered. 
The road, running along the valley, was at that time a fine one, 
well kept, and offering delightful variety of view. At Aosta we 
hired mules, to take us to Cormayeur, a large district situated at 
the foot of the eastern and southern slopes of Mont Blanc, and 
celebrated for its mineral springs. We continued to ascend the 
valley of the Doira, passing through Villeneuve d' Aosta, Avisa, 
Lasalle and Storges. f 

Cormayeur, according to the calculation of M. de Saussure, is 
625 fathoms above the level of the Mediterranean, that is to say, 
about a quarter of the height of Mont Blanc. I took up my 
quarters there for four days, and employed my time in making 
excursions in the neighbourhood. J. L. Jordany, called 
" Patience," an inhabitant of Cormayeur, accompanied me — he 
had also served as guide to M. de Saussure during his expeditions 
in these parts of the Alps. Under his guidance we explored the 
valley of Cormayeur, the Allee Blanche, the Valley of Ferret and 
the Breuva Glacier, one of the finest in the Alps. This glacier is 
reached by crossing a beautiful forest of larches, which bounds it 
on the lower side. After passing the moraine, J; which is very lofty, 
we climbed to a considerable height, crossing, with the help of our 
guide, the numerous and profound crevasses that intersect it. 
Mont Blanc towered above our heads to the north, but the ai- 
guilles, especially the Giant, at whose foot we were, hid its summit 
from our sight. Our curiosity not being completely satisfied, we 
resolved on climbing, as a last expedition, a mountain, to which 
our guide gave the name of Chicouri, situated on the north- 
west of Cormayeur, and from whose summit Mont Blanc and its 
aiguilles are all visible. We started on 24th Germinal, an hour 
before sunrise, and by steep pathways, every turn of which was 
known to our guide, we succeeded in reaching the summit of the 
mountain. The sun, which had just risen, cast a bright radiance 
on the magnificent landscape that surrounded us. The rose- 
coloured summit of Mont Blanc was scarcely distinguishable among 
the nearest aiguilles. 

t . * In Piedmont the name of Doira is given to all streams descending 
from the Col de la Seigne and the Col de Ferret, where the watershed of 
the Adriatic commences. 

f This village is known in the country under the name of the Capital 
of the Cretins (or idiots), from the great number of these unfortunate be- 
ings among its inhabitants. 

X A 7noraine is a heap of stones which generally forms the exterior 
boundary of a glacier. 



122 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Across the valley of Cormayeur and the Allee Blanche, we saw 
the Breuva and Miege glaciers reflecting back the sunlight in a 
thousand glittering peaks. Never had 1 beheld so grand a spectacle. 

Our guide had arranged our day's journey so that we should 
return to Cormayeur by the opposite slope of Chicouri from that 
which we had taken in ascending, and reach the extreme end of 
the Allee Blanche and the valley which terminates it. We were 
preparing to commence the descent, when the wind, rising from 
the depths of the valley and heaping up the clouds, hid all the 
landscape beneath us by degrees, while the sky overhead remained 
blue and serene. But the clouds continuing to rise, surrounded 
us on all sides, and bore with them the storm they carried in their 
bosom. In one instant the ground on which we were walking was 
covered with snow as fine, powdery, and penetrating as dust. Our 
footmarks on the former snows were effaced, and a north-east wind, 
which took away our breath,, began to blow with violence, causing 
us intolerable discomfort. At last all unevenness in the ground 
disappeared, and we could no longer distinguish any of the land- 
marks. In spite of his great experience, our guide seemed 
anxious. He at once abandoned his intention of taking us back 
by the northern slope of the mountain, and set about returning by 
the same way we had come. His thorough acquaintance with the 
mountains and a kind of instinct guided him in the right direc- 
tion, and we were advancing with confidence, when all of a sudden 
he disappeared in a chasm that had been filled up by snow, but 
M'as not sufficiently firm to bear the weight of a man. We ran to 
his assistance, and succeeded with some trouble in dragging him 
out of the crevasse, which happily was not deep.* We set off 
again, using our alpenstocks for the steepest descents. At last the 
storm, after having lasted more than two hours, died away ; im- 
perceptibly the rocky points, the mountain-tops, the summits of 
the trees in the valley reappeared, and, without incurring fresh 
dangers, we accomplished the rest of the distance to Cormayeur. 

The time at my disposal did not permit me to renew the attempt 
that had just failed. I left Cormayeur the next day, 25th Germi- 
nal (April 14), to return to Aosta. There I took a day's rest, and 
started on the 27th for the Great St. Bernard. 

(Jn leaving AosUi the traveller still sees vines and cultivated 
fields ; but, in proportion as he ascends, the temperature becomes 
colder. We were very glad to reach St. Remy, f where we found 

* Our little party was composed of five persons : MoHneri, Patience 
the guide, a porter loaded with provisions, a servant and myself. 

f St. Remy, situated at 1604 yards above the level of the sea, is the 
last village of Piedmont ; but the territorial limit of the States of the King 
of Sardinia and of the Republic of Valais, is higher up on the mountain. 



THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. 1 23 

an excellent inn and well-supplied stoves. We hired guides for 
the ascent of Mount St. Bernard by the path which leads to the 
monastery. The time of year was not favourable for this ascent ; 
the snow had disappeared in the valley, but that which during the 
winter had been heaped up on the steep mountain-sides now 
threatened to descend in avalanches. It was the time of year when 
avalanches occur most frequently, and the route is consequently 
dangerous. Nevertheless, the fear of so formidable an accident 
did not deter us, but following the advice of our guides, we left 
the mules at St. Remy and performed the journey on foot. They 
also advised us to maintain perfect silence, and we followed the 
narrow mountain-path in single file. The distance from St. Remy 
to the monastery* of the Great St. Bernard is about six or seven 
miles, and we accomplished it in three hours. At a mile and a 
quarter's distance from the last chalets on the road we began to 
distinguish the monastery buildings, and to the west of these and 
on our right we perceived the lake, which was still frozen over in 
many places. The landscape here is both melancholy and impos- 
ing. Not a tree, not a trace of vegetation is seen on the rocks ris- 
ing on every side, and whose black peaks detach themselves from 
the almost eternal snows that fill up the interval and which had not 
yet begun to melt. A small garden, lying to the south and shel- 
tered by the monastery wall, is with difficulty made to yield a few 
vegetables during the summer. They are of indifferent quality. 

Every kind of provision, even the wood for fuel, is carried to the 
hospice on the backs of mules from Valais and Piedmont. 

I was extremely well received by the hospitable monks. In the 
room in which we dined, the barometer was a few lines above 
twelve inches, an observation which agrees pretty well with those 
that have been taken with greater exactitude in order to ascertain 
the height of the pass of the Great St. Bernard. According to the 
calculation of M. de Saussure, the convent is at a height of 1257 
fathoms, and the pass at its highest points, according to the " An- 
nuaire du Bureau des Longitudes," is 2491 yards above the level 
of the sea. 

I went over every part of the hospice, a wise and humane found- 
ation, and I spent the night there. On the following morning, 
we returned in the same order and with the same precautions as 
before to the village of St. Remy. In the evening of the 23d 
Germinal I was back at Aosta, well pleased to have so happily ac- 
complished a journey whose difficulty and danger was even at that 
period exaggerated. No one then could imagine that, four years 

* The monastery of St. Bernard is situated on the verge of the perpet- 
ual snow-line ; this line in the Alps is between 1300 and 1400 fathoms 
above the level of the sea. 



124 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

later, the road which was considered barely practicable for mules 
would be traversed by a powerful army ; that a large body of artil- 
lery would be transported along the narrow pathway hanging over 
a precipice, and that Italy's most formidable barrier would thus 
sink before the genius of the greatest captain of modern times, and 
the dauntless heroism of the French soldiery. 

I purposed returning immediately to Turin ; but I was prevailed 
upon by the Intendant of the Province of Aosta, who had received 
me with the greatest courtesy, and had given me every assistance 
towards the success of my expedition, to make a three days' ex- 
cursion with him into the valley of Cognes, to visit the iron mines 
situated on a slope of JNIount Iseran which closes in that valley. 

Although less frequented by travellers than the other valleys of 
the Alps, Cognes is one of the most picturesque. We ascended 
towards its source the course of a torrent which descends from 
Mount Iseran and fills into the Doira near Aosta. The banks of 
this stream are wooded, and display rich and beautiful Alpine vege- 
tation. At every step we beheld the rarest plants ; my companion 
Molineri gathered the Linncea borealis, the Rhododendroji ferrugi- 
ncum, the Artemisia glacialis and others — which my taste lor botany 
made me regard as very precious. 

We thus made our way along a road, made delightful by charm- 
ing views and interesting conversation, to the village of Cognes, 
where we passed the night. Early on the following morning we 
proceeded to the iron-mines. These mines are worked in the 
open air, and consist of a group of rocks entirely composed of car- 
bonate of iron, which is broken off in large blocks. These blocks 
are rolled down the mountain to the site upon which the factories 
are built, over the torrent which waters the valley of Cognes. The 
entire mass of the mountain consists of the mineral itself, and is 
of such extent that if worked it would afford an enormous supply. 
But the great elevation of the site, which may be reckoned at more 
than a thousand fathoms above the level of the sea, and the impos- 
sibility of working it during the greater part of the year, consider- 
ably lessen its produce. From Cognes to the mines, the road is 
very steep and vegetation gradually dwindles away. A few dry 
plants and stunted birch-trees are still to be seen here and there, 
but at length even the Armaria bifiora, which Molineri considers 
as the last plant which flourishes on the heights of the Alps below 
the line of everlasting snow, disappears. 

After this excursion we returned to Cognes, thence I made my 
way to Aosta ; and immediately afterwards left for Turin, where I 
arrived on 2d Floreal (April 20;. I remained there a few hours 
only, and set out at once for Paris. 

I must not, however, take leave of Italy without giving some 



PIEDMONT. 125 



idea of the condition of that beautiful country at the time of my 
departure, and a sketch of the events which took place immediate- 
ly afterwards. Although I no longer held an official position, the 
notes I had taken, a few confidential correspondences which out- 
lived my public duties, the abiding interest I felt in a country to 
which I was so warmly attached, and, finally, the desire to justify 
my own conduct there, led me to amass an amount of information 
which enables me to throw some light on the causes of the disas- 
ters that so soon succeeded to our triumphs, and I will take the 
present opportunity of pointing them out. 

I will begin with Piedmont. The first steps taken by Ginguene 
had alarmed the Cabinet of Turin, and dealings with him had been 
difficult. An argument which, to say the least, was inexpedient, 
had arisen on the subject of Madame Ginguene' s presentation. 
She had, as I have already said, refused to wear the conventional 
Court dress, and yet insisted on being received at Court. Gin- 
guene, however, had prevailed ; the presentation had taken place, 
and when I saw him on my way through Turin after my Alpine 
excursion, he was delighted with and proud of his triumph. But 
these feelings were greatly qualified by the difficulties of his posi- 
tion. Disturbances were breaking out in all parts of Piedmont, 
and Brune, who for two months had had the command of the 
army of Italy, far from acting on Buonaparte's principles, seemed 
to have no intention of opposing any effectual resistance to those 
disturbances. The seat of the insurrection was at first at Carosio, 
a small province belonging to Piedmont, but enclosed within the 
territory of the new Ligurian Republic, which had just risen from 
the ruins of the ancient oligarchy of Genoa. The revolt was head- 
ed by a man named Trombetta, a Piedmontese by birth, but who 
wore the French uniform, and even described himself as an agent 
of the French Republic. Notwithstanding the protestations of the 
Cisalpine and Ligurian Directories, it was evident that neither one 
nor the other observed a strict neutrality, and that the spirit of 
proselytism, which made further progress every day, inclined both 
these Governments to encourage disturbances which must bring 
about the destruction of a monarchical State, whose existence in 
the midst of so many republics seemed to them a political parados. 
M. de Balbi made serious complaints in Paris of the hostile feeling 
against Piedmont openly displayed both at Milan and Genoa, and 
he certainly was not wrong in regarding those two Governments as 
the greatest enemies of his country. But his complaints were un- 
heeded. The Directory of the French Republic, far from disap- 
proving of the disturbances, was waiting impatiently for the 
results that must needs follow, and was preparing to profit by 
them. 



126 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Meanwhile the first attempts of the insurgents were repulsed by 
the troops which were sent against them by the Piedmontese Gov- 
ernment. But after some few checks, they were renewed with 
greater force, and the insurgents contrived to establish and main- 
tain a position in the village of Casosio, whence they traversed the 
Ligurian territory, which was free to them, but on which the 
King's troops might not follow them, and carried the signal of re- 
volt to other points of Piedmont. At the same time gatherings of 
the people at jNIilan were causing alarm on the frontiers on the 
side of Lake JMaggiore. These insurrectionary movements w^ere 
fomented by outrageous hbels on the King of Sardinia, and by 
proclamations which clearly conveyed that their authors were under 
the protection of France. 

The following is a rather curious extract from one of the latter : 

" The French Government, in order to promote peace and the 
triumph of the Grand Army, has been forced for the time being 
to look upon kings as the representatives of their subjects. This 
supposition, though unlawful, was necessary for the opening of 
negotiadons, but it is at the present time, circumscribed and limit- 
ed. To protect the weak, is it not a means of exhausting them ? 
The alliance of the King of Sardinia with the French Republic was 
really an act by which he morally abdicated his sovereignty." 

It must be admitted that the authors of these writings reasoned 
well. They expressed the real feeling of the Executive Director}', 
as elected on the i8th Fructidor. 

All the grievances of the Turin Court, of which these details will 
give a sufficient idea, were laid open in Paris by the Sardinian am- 
bassador, and in his notes to the French Government he made no 
mention of Ginguene. Certainly the latter seemed to exercise little 
influence on the Generals of the army of Italy, who every day 
showed themselves more favourable to the insurgents, and openly 
supported them in every place. These grievances were for a long 
time unnoticed. At last, on the ist Prairial, year VI. (May 20, 
1 798, M. de Talleyrand wrote a reply to the pressing notes of M. 
de Balbi. 

The Minister begins by disavowing all participation in the dis- 
lAirbances then taking place in Piedmont, and protests that the 
French have no share in them. But at the same time he declares 
his conviction that those Piedmontese who have joined the insur- 
rection have been misled, and that immediately on being warned 
that they are the unconscious instruments of crime, they will has- 
ten to return to their allegiance. " Consequently," he adds, " the 
ambassador o( France at the Sardinian Court is instructed, first, to 
ask for an immediate and entire amnesty in favour of the Pied- 
montese insurgents who have taken up arms. He will afterwards 



FRANCE AND PIEDMONT. 12/ 

press the Sardinian Government to use its strength against any 
gatherings of berbets^ which may still exist in the country. 

' ' On these conditions the French Government promises to use 
all its influence with the Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics, to 
maintain them -in tranquillity and within the territorial limits 
assigned to them." 

It will be recollected that this almost derisive letter, and which 
advances so curious a doctrine, is written by the same Minister 
who, four months previously, had blamed me for my endeavours 
to check the unheard-of cruelties that were perpetrated upon Sar- 
dinian subjects, far less guilty than the insurgents in Piedmont. 

The Court of Turin, driven to extremity, ordered its ambassador 
in Paris to sign any kind of convention, in order to put an end 
to the insurrection. But the French Government refused to treat 
directly, and referred the negotiation to Ginguene, notwithstand- 
ing the dislike to treat with that ambassador, which was manifested 
by the Sardinian Minister. 

Ginguene, having been authorised to begin the negotiation, 
went first to Milan to consult with General Brune, and on the 5 th 
Prairial (May 24) handed a note to M. de Prioca, which, both in 
style and in arrogant requirements, far exceeded the instructions 
sent from Paris. Its language is that of a man who cannot con- 
ceal his satisfaction at being authorised to indulge his feelings of 
enmity against the Cabinet of Turin ; and, with a singular disre- 
gard of diplomatic customs, Ginguene hastened to despatch a copy 
of his note to the French ambassadors at Naples, Milan and 
Genoa. He even wrote privately to M. de Talleyrand, to urge 
him to have this note published in the French newspapers — so 
greatly did he think his literary and republican reputation inter- 
ested in it. 

The Sardinian Government, justly offended by the tone of this 
communication, despatched a courier to Paris to renew the request 
that the negotiation should be carried on in that city, but the ap- 
plication had no success. In proportion as the internal situation 
of Piedmont became more critical, by reason of the insurrections 
which broke out in all parts, so did the Executive Directory be- 
come more exacting. Finally, on obtaining the amnesty, it 
required that the citadel of Turin should be garrisoned by French 
troops, and this demand, repeated in a series of diplomatic notes, 
each more imperious than the preceding, was acceded to at a Con- 
ference which took place on 8th Messidor (June 25) between Gin- 
guene and M. de Prioca. The treaty regulating the conditions of 

* These berbets were brigands, no doubt, but at that time they were 
supporting the King's cause. 



128 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

this jrarrison was sipfncd, not at Turin but at Milan, by General 
Bruno and M. do St. Marsan. * 

The political existence of the King of Sardinia was virtually at 
an end ; by giving up his capital he ceased to reign. 

The occupation of the citadel of Turin inflamed to the highest 
degree the enmity of the Piedmontese towards the French, and the 
patriotic party instead of being strengthened by this circumstance 
was weakened. All the men of generous and elevated minds 
whom it had comprised felt that their national honour had been 
wounded, and withdrew, so that it soon consisted only of intrigu- 
ing malcontents, who hoped to enrich themselves by the misfor- 
tunes and humiliations of their country. These sentiments of 
enmity, so deep and so well-founded, could not remain concealed ; 
they showed themselves in innumerable ways, and were the cause 
of desperate encounters in which the lives of Frenchmen travelling 
alone through Piedmont were sacrificed. Ginguene, on this, re- 
commenced writing his threatening notes, he insisted that the Sar- 
dinian Government should put an end to these hostile demon- 
strations, that the officials should exhibit good-will towards the 
French, and in order to attain this end he asked for the dismissal 
of many of them. Lastly, he wanted the Archbishop of Turin to 
publish a pastoral letter, recommending his flock to live on good 
terms with the French. How was it that a man of good sense did 
not see the absurdity of such a proceeding ? Have governments 
the power of suddenly changing the minds and opinions of the 
people ? Could the violation of every principle involved in the 
occupation of an ally's capital during perfect peace, could the 
arrogant and irreligious conduct of the French in the midst of a 
population attached to the forms of their religion, have any other 
result than the hatred of the Piedmontese ? If that violation was 
a political necessity, if the occupation of the citadel of Turin was 
an unavoidable military measure, we should have been ready to 
stand by its consequences, to look upon the enmity incurred as a 
necessary evil, to have been on our guard against it and tried to 
avert its effects ; but to request an insulted Government to put an 
end to it, was folly. 

However, it would seem that the Executive Directory, though 
approving in the main what was taking place in Piedmont, would 
have preferred more suavity and dissimulation on the part of Gin- 
guene. Their cc)nfidence was withdrawn from him by degrees, 
and an event happened which, although he was not concerned in 
it, completed its withdrawal. 

* The French troops entered Turin, 15th Messidor, year IV. (July 3, 
1798). 



FRENCH INSULTS TO TURIN. 1 29 

The Feast of the Virgin, which falls on the 8th of September, 
has been from time immemorial celebrated at Turin with great 
solemnity. It is ushered in by numerous salvos of artillery ; a 
grand procession winds through the streets ; the feast is always 
looked forward to"~with eagerness, and the people take the largest 
share in it. It was therefore feared, with reason, that the presence 
of French soldiers in the town and the disrespect they might show 
for the ceremony would occasion affrays and bloodshed. The 
General commanding the citadel, having taken counsel with the 
French ambassador, confined the garrison to their barracks, and 
on the 8th of September not a French soldier was to be seen in 
the streets of Turin. 

But a week later, on Sunday, September the i6th (30th Fruc- 
tidor), a number of French officers and soldiers, in masks, some 
dressed as women, or in caricatured costumes of the Court or 
town, others as jockeys, drove out in the evening from the citadel, 
and paraded through the town. This scandalous masquerade, 
intended to ridicule the ceremonies which had taken place on the 
Feast of the Virgin, proceeded to the public promenades, to the 
vicinity of the churches, disturbed Divine worship and gravely 
endangered the tranquillity of the town. The Piedmontese garri- 
son took up arms, and for a few moments it was feared that a 
bloody conflict would ensue. The disgraceful farce was dis- 
avowed by the General and the ambassador, but its effect was not 
less fatal. It completed the alienation of the people, it embittered 
the already existing enmity, and it placed the Sardinian Govern- 
ment at an advantage. 

It will always remain inexplicable that the French Generals at 
Turin, and especially the Commandant of the citadel, should 
have been ignorant of a project whose execution involved a great 
deal of preparation ; and the blame of acceding to it, or at least 
of wilfully closing their eyes, will be justly imputed to them in 
perpetuity. 

These events made a gloomy ending to Ginguene's mission. 
He was recalled on the 2d Vendemiaire, year VII. (September 23, 
1798) 

Shortly before his departure, the Comtesse d'Artois, who had 
until then resided unmolested at Turin, was ordered to leave that 
city. 

Such are the principal events which took place in Piedmont 
from the time of my departure until the beginning of year VII. 
Those which followed, and which completely ended the drama by 
the expulsion of the King, and his exile in Sardinia, belong to 
another series of circumstances with which I am not concerned. 

As to the rest of Italy ; on the departure of Buonaparte, the 



I30 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

political conduct of the Generals and diplomatic agents everywhere 
assumed an aspect which closely resembled their policy in Pied- 
mont. Massena, who having succeeded Berthier in the command 
of the army occupying Rome, so misconducted himself that the 
French troops, deprived of their pay while he was appropriating 
enormous wealth, revolted, and refused to recognise him an}- 
longer as their commander. His extortion, his plunder, his 
shameless rapacity, dishonoured the laurels he had won, at the 
very moment that the departure of Buonaparte left the field open 
for him to eclipse the fame of his illustrious rival, and to bear 
away the palm from the only General who could vie with him in 
military talent. 

The new Roman Republic, established under these melancholy 
auspices, had only an ephemeral existence. 

At Naples, where Garat had acted on the same principles, and 
made use of the same forms of diplomatic communications as 
Ginguene at Turin, there was a commencement of disturbance, in 
anticipation of the revolution that broke out shortly aftenvards, 
flourished for a while and then came to an end on the bloody 
scaffolds erected by Cardinal Ruffo, and amid the tragic scenes of 
an angry Queen's vengeance, which Nelson carried out in order to 
please I^dy Hamilton. 

At Milan, Trouve, a turbulent patriot, with an unsatiable desire 
for innovation, but weak and without talent ; at Genoa, Belleville, 
no less extravagant, but superior in nobility of character, and 
solidity of principle, encouraged and infused life into the revolu- 
tionary movement, loosened all social ties and forced the people 
into republicanism, just as violent fanatics had formerly forced na- 
tions into Catholrcism. But as none of these innovations were 
founded either on a change of customs or on newly-acquired and 
strongly-held opinions, the whole fabric was shattered in a mo- 
ment, when fortune turned against us, and by all our triumphs, 
all our brilliant victories, we gained only the enmity and aversion 
of the peoples. Our glorious conquest slipped from our hands in 
less time than we had taken to accomplish it, and the first con- 
queror of Italy had to come back from the banks of the Nile to 
replace her under the yoke ; as if it were the fate of that beautiful 
land to submit herself to him only. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Author arrives in Paris — He finds certain changes in the manners 
and habits of Parisian society^He is received coldly by the Members 
of the Directory, and by the persons who frequent their salons — He sees 
Bonaparte — The General's motives for undertaking the expedition to 
Egypt — Popular rising at Vienna, in consequence of which the French 
Legation leaves that city — The Directory, fearing that war with Austria 
will break out afresh, decides on sending General Bonaparte to Ras- 
tadt — The dangers with which the Directory would be threatened by 
the ambitious projects of the General, cause them to rescind this deci- 
sion, and Bonaparte leaves at once, to embark at Toulon — The Author 
is summoned to join a Council called together on account of disputes 
in the Department of the Interior — Failures of the Directory in the 
management of public affairs — Reverses of the French arms — Partial 
overthrow of the Directory, and Ministerial changes — The Author goes 
to Holland with Deforgues, who is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary 
to the Batavian Republic — In passing through Morfontaine he hears 
that Bonaparte's brothers had sent a communication to Ihe General 
which may induce him to return to France — Deforgues and the Author 
travel by way of Lille, Bruges, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and 
Harlem, and arrive at Alkmaer, the headquarters of Brune — Situation 
of military affairs in Holland — The travellers proceed to the Hague — 
Political state of the country — Capitulation of the Duke of York, and 
evacuation of the territory of the Batavian Republic by the Anglo-Rus- 
sian army. 

Notwithstanding the melancholy presentiments which had filled 
my mind, and been only too speedily verified, I left Italy with re- 
gret, and it was not without pain that, from the heights of Mount 
Cenis, I gazed for the last time at the plains of Piedmont, and 
gradually lost sight of the beautiful country which at that time I 
had no hopes of revisiting. I reached Paris on the 6th Floreal, 
year VI. (April 25, 1798.) What a change had taken place dur- 
ing my three years' absence ! To the too-simple manners, to the 
coarse language of the Republic under the Convention, had suc- 
ceeded politeness in speech, and elegance in manners and dress. 
Thee 2iYv& thou were no longer used ; "Carmagnoles" were no 
longer worn ; the women, especially, had returned with eagerness 
to their former tastes ; fashion had resumed her sway, and a pas- 
sion for the antique regulated her decrees, to the detriment of 
decency. Not that the luxury and magnificence of a Court had as 



132 MKMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

yet been restored ; we had still some steps to take before returning 
to those. Our habits were still tinged with the roughness we were 
leaving behind us, and with the contempt for the " convenances" 
that we had so long professed. Society was not yet formed ; 
there was no division between its various classes. All was confu- 
sion, and the salons were crowded indifferently with Contractors 
and Generals, with women of easy virtue and ladies of the ancient 
nobility, with patriots and returned emigres. One only thought, 
common to all, occupied and drew together this crowd of beings 
differing so widely by birth and education, the desire to acquire 
money ; and all means were good which led to that end. A 
woman dressed with the greatest elegance, did not disdain the 
" transaction" of a contract, and would, even exhibit specimens of 
the goods in which she or \\tx protege had speculated. At that 
time patronage was only to be obtained by a division of profits. 
Each of the five members of the Executive Directory held a sepa- 
rate Court at the Luxembourg. They had their respective recep- 
tion days, their own particular circles, their courtiers. But among 
them all, he who imitated the ways of the nobles of the ancient 
regime most closely was Barras. He kept horses, dogs, mistresses ; 
his manners were haughty and abrupt ; and it was mar\ellous to 
see the proud Republicans, the Aristides and Brutus of the 
Convention, bow down before their new idol and adore his 
tastes. 

I went with the rest of the world, to pay my court at the Lux- 
embourg, but I had litde cause to boast of my reception there. 
Merlin, in whose department the "Exterior Relations'' were 
included, and from whom I endeavoured to learn the cause of my 
recall, made mc a diplomatic answer, and referred me to his Min- 
ister, Talleyrand. With the exception of Fran9ois de Neufchateau, 
who received me kindly and invited me to dinner, the Directors 
either did not speak to me, or barely condescended to look at me. 
So soon as -it was perceived that I was out of favour, all those in 
the rooms with whom I had formerly been acquainted turned their 
backs on me also. I became convinced that I was altogether in 
disgrace, and thenceforth I gave up those fatiguing and useless 
visits. I merely went, as Merlin had advised me, to call upon 
Talleyrand. He received me with urbanity, but I could not 
obtain from him any more light on my destiny than from his 
Director. He asked me, for form's sake, for a memorandum of 
my mission and of the state uf the country I had just left. I 
promised to draw it up ; but convinced, as I was, that he would 
not read it, and that it would be pains wasted, I spared myself the 
task, and I did well, for I heard nothing more either of the Minis- 
ter or the memorandum. 



BONAPARTE'S DISCONTENT. 1 33 

When I arrived in Paris, Bonaparte* was still there. I saw him 
several times before his departure, and he continued very friendly 
towards me. He treated me with the same confidence as in Italy, 
and in our conversations he threw some light on the circumstances 
that had led hini to undertake the expedition to Egypt. I shall 
narrate them here. 

Bonaparte had left Italy, dissatisfied with the Treaty of Campo- 
Formio, which was signed by him in a fit of vexation at Augereau's 
appointment to the command of the army of Geraiany. The con- 
ditions of this peace were — and he knew it — altogether impolitic ; 
extremely unfavourable in the present, and still more unfavourable 
for the future. 

In pursuance of what he had told me at Turin, he had gone to 
Rastadt in hopes of amending his work ; but his dislike to Treil- 
hard and Bonnier, the Plenipotentiaries, whom he met at the Con- 
gress, and still more, perhaps, the scandalous disunion between 
those two negotiators, prevented his success, and he returned to 
Paris entirely absorbed in the idea of a descent upon England. 

The survey which he made of the channel and ocean coasts, and 
the remarks of some able men whom he met on his way, f induced 
him to abandon this project, whose execution seemed to him, at 
any rate for the time, impossible. But, having given it up, his 
impatience of his position, the risks to which he believed himself 
exposed in Paris, his dissatisfaction with the Directory, whose 
members dreaded the pretensions of the favourite of Fortune, con- 
firmed him in his resolution to play an isolated part, and to seek 
at the head of an army that independence which the absolute 
power he had wielded in Italy had made both a habit and a neces- 
sity to him. The world too must be dazzled by fresh exploits, and 
France prepared for what was to come by the glory of the nation 
being raised to the highest attainable point. Thus the project of 
an expedition to Egypt, of which Monge had conceived the first 
idea during his stay at Passeriano,J assumed consistency, and 
measures were taken to carry it out. Bonaparte ardently entered 
into it. He carried away the Government by his fiery speeches 
and the ascendency of his reputation, and they on their side were 
glad to get him out of France, at any price. It was still easier for 

* After the Italian campaign the General discarded the " u" in the 
spelling of his name, and adopted the French form, ** Bonaparte." 

f On his way through Calais he closely interrogated M. Gallois, who 
was returning from England. That gentleman's replies contributed not 
a little to dissuade Bonaparte from an attempt, which, had it failed, would 
have fatally injured his reputation. 

X Near Udine, where Monge and Bonaparte were during the negotia- 
tions of the treaty of Campo-Formio. 



134 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

him to influence men who were p^reedy of glon', and lovers of dar- 
ing enterprise. Every preliminary was dictated by him, the 
decrees of the Directory were minuted by his own hand, and 
copied out by Fran(;;ois de Neufchatcau, the youngest of the Direc- 
tors, who took the place of Lagarde, the secretary ; for tlie latter 
was not admitted to the secret. In fact, everything was his doing, 
and it would be unfair to accuse the Government of the day of an 
enterprise which had such fatal results. Plans, projects, political 
and militar)' combinations, all were Bonaparte's ; the Directory is 
to be reproached only with having consented to them. 

While all was in preparation, rather with affected mystery than 
really in secret, the unfortunate incident took place in consequence 
of which Bcrnadotte and the French Legation left Vienna after a 
residence there of two months.* Scarcely was this occurrence 
known in Paris, than the Directory, fearing that it might entail 
further hostilities, and feeling that Bonaparte would be infinitely 
useful to them in such a conjuncture, threw themselves completely 
upon him for aid. By a spontaneous decree, full powers were 
granted to the General, on whom the task of repairing the mis- 
chief devolved. 

It was just at this crisis that I arrived in Paris from Turin. 

I found Bonaparte pleased both with himself and with his posi- 
tion. He complained bitterly of what he called Bernadotte's 
mistakes. " See," he said to me, *' what they cost us : I must 
give up the greatest expedition I have as yet planned, in order to 
return to Rastadt, and I must renounce a project whose execu- 
tion might change the political face of Europe." But behind 
this feigned resentment I could easily perceive that his satisfaction 
was greater than the regrets he expressed ; for, by entrusting him 
with the negotiations occasioned by the Vienna affair, the Directory 
replaced him in the position he coveted ; once more the fate of 
P'rance and of her Government was in his hands. He was the 
arbiter of peace and war, he commanded the one or made the 
other, according as his interest rendered peace or war necessar)'. 
Lastly, either as the conqueror of Austria for the second time, or 
as a worshipped peacemaker, he would return to Paris with his 
power increased by all the moral influence either title would have 
given him over the nation, and he would then carry out what, in 
fact, he did aftenvards put in execution on the i8th Brumaire. 

* Bernadotte, having, as ambassador of France, hoisted the tricolor 
flag over the door of the Embassy, the populace of Vienna made a disturb- 
ance which endangered the safety of the ambassador and the other French 
there. This led to the withdrawal of the Legation. It is said that Ber- 
nadotte hoisted the national colours only in consequence of a reprimand 
addressed to him on the subject by the Directory. 



VACILLATION OF THE DIRECTORY. 1 35 

But either because he did not conceal his intentions and hopes 
with sufficient care, so that the Directory perceived some of the 
dangers it was amassing about itself, or because a letter written by 
Bonaparte to M. de Cobentzel * had enlightened the members of 
the Directory as to the part which the protector, whose support 
they wished to obtain, intended to play, the Government changed 
its mind. It was decided that Bonaparte should not go to Rastadt, 
but that Franfois de Neufchateau, who was to go out of the Direc- 
tory in a month, •)• should undertake the negotiations. Barras was 
selected to inform Bonaparte of the change, and the manner in 
which he acquitted himself of his task was, no doubt, one of the 
causes of the dislike with which Bonaparte regarded him from that 
time forth. 

I am ignorant of the particulars of that interview, but I was a 
witness to what followed. 

I was with Bonaparte on the evening of the i6th Floreal. He 
had been talking to me a great deal about his journey to Rastadt ; 
the expedition to Egypt seemed quite forgotten. He was even 
telling us of the kind of life he meant to adopt on his return from 
Germany. Just at that moment Barras entered the room, looking 
extremely gloomy. He took little part in the conversation, and 
after a few moments' silence, he and Bonaparte went into an ad- 
joining cabinet. 

The interview lasted barely a quarter of an hour. Barras came 
out first, and passed through the drawing-room, scarcely exchang- 
ing a word with Madame Bonaparte. The General next made his 
appearance, spoke to nobody, and returned to his cabinet, slam- 
ming the door behind him. During the night he started for Tou- 
lon, and I saw him no more until after the i8th Brumaire. 

This anecdote seems to me to explain everything ; and when I 
reflect on what took place before my eyes, I can only see in the 
expedition to Egypt, which in the end was so disastrous and so 
fatal to our navy — sacrificed by the Directory to their desire to rid 
themselves of a man they dared not openly attack — a fresh proof 
of the incalculable evils which are inflicted on nations by the pri- 
vate dislikes or the exaggerated pretensions of the men who are 
placed at their head either by chance or by a fatal celebrity. 

* This letter was written unknown to the Directory. Bernadotte's 
affair was little touched upon, but great stress was laid on the necessity 
of a new arrangement which would end the difficulties caused by the 
treaty of Campo-Formio. Thus the question of peace or war was re- 
opened, and the aim of Bonaparte was accomplished. 

f During the first five years of the Constitution of year III., these 
changes were to be decided by drawing lots, but it had been agreed upon 
beforehand that the lot should fall to Fran5ois de Neufchateau, who was 
appointed to the Ministry of the Interior as a compepsation. 



136 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Bonaparte, for whom there remained no alternative but that of 
underlakint]^ this expedition or of losing his position altogether, did 
not disguise from himself the risks he \vas about to run, although 
at the time of his departure he hoped that the steps taken at Con- 
stantinople might obviate some of these risks, and that the Porte 
would be induced to consent to the occupation of Egypt by 
France, This, no doubt, was a great delusion, and I shall never 
believe that Talleyrand, who encouraged Bonaparte on this point 
more than any one, can have sincerely shared it Meanwhile 
Bonaparte, who generally endeavoured to implicate those men 
whose advice he liad followed in any risk that might arise from act- 
ing on it, thus obtaining a guarantee against treachery or desertion, 
had not forgotten to insist that Talleyrand should be sent as am- 
bassador to Constantinople, and when he left Paris he was con- 
vinced that Talleyrand would be installed in his new post before 
his own arrival in Egypt. But this time he was dealing with a 
man who was more subtle than himself. Talleyrand let him de- 
part, and, foreseeing the issue of the expedition, remained quietly 
in Paris, where he continued to abet the passions and the policy 
of the Directors, until the hour when the mistakes of that Govern- 
ment and its consequent reverses dragged down the Minister in the 
fall of the Directory. It was thus that Talleyrand got the better 
of Bonaparte, whom he supported neither in Paris nor at Con- 
stantinople, and also of Francois de Neufchateau, who had con- 
sented to go out of the Directory only on condition of succeeding 
Talleyrand, but had to content himself with the Ministry' of the 
Interior. 

Bonaparte's departure left me in Paris quite isolated from public 
affairs. I neither saw the Directors nor the Ministers, who dis- 
trusted me on account of my intimate relations with the General. 
I then attached myself more closely to Joseph Bonaparte ; but he 
had little influence. Perhaps the friendship he evinced for me was 
one reason why the Government gave me no further employment. 
However, Fran9ois de Neufchateau, the Minister of the Interior, 
having appointed a Council to advise him on the affairs of his 
department, I was named one of its members. But events were 
hurrying on, and I was destined shortly to return to the stormy 
career of politics. 

The Executive Director}', having vanquished the National Rep- 
resentation, which was decimated on the i8th Fructidor, and 
having rid itself of Bonaparte, who had so powerfully contributed 
to the success of that fatal day, had failed to profit by its victory — 
had indeed made one blunder after another from that moment. 
The Administration of the Interior, the general policy and manage- 
ment of the war, were»all marked at the end of year VI., and dur- 



STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 1 37 

ing the first nine months of year VII. , by total incapacity. Vic- 
tory had altogether forsaken the French flag, and notwithstanding 
some partial successes obtained by Generals Championnet and 
Joubert, the arrival of Suwarrow's army, the surrender of Mantua, 
and the defeat of -Macdonald on the Trebia, had caused our loss 
of Italy. War was again declared with Austria ;* the Congress of 
Rastadt was broken up, its last sittings being marked by the assas- 
sination of the French Ministers, Bonnier, Roberjot and Jean 
Debry ; a terrible event whose causes have not been completely 
ascertained even yet The opening ol the campaign against Aus- 
tria had been unfortunate, and the retreat of General Jourdan be- 
fore the superior forces of the Archduke Charles, which, although 
admired by military men, was fatal to France, had reduced us to 
a perilously defensive attitude. Switzerland was invaded by the 
Russians and the Austrians, who were restrained with difficulty by 
Massena and Lecourbe. The ancient frontiers of France were 
already endangered, and insurrection was again raising its head 
in La Vendee and the other Western Departments. So many 
reverses, misfortunes and ill-advised combinations had exasperated 
the public mind, and the Directory, assailed by reproaches and 
clamour on all sides, was unable to withstand the storm. The 
Legislative Body, supported by public opinion and by a new Jaco- 
bin Club, which held its meetings in the Riding-School of the 
Tuileries,f could now retaliate on the i8th Fructidor, and in its 
turn dismissed three Directors. By these fresh attacks on the Con- 
stitution of year III. , the way was prepared for its complete de- 
struction. 

The three dismissed Directors, Merlin, Lareveillere-Lepaux and 
Treilhard, were replaced by Gohier, Roger-Ducos and General 
Moulin, three men hitherto unknown. Barras and Sieyes 
remained. The overthrow of the Directory involved that of a por- 
tion of the Ministry. Cambaceres was made Minister of Justice ; 
Quinette, Minister of the Interior ; Reinhart, formerly my col- 
league at the Foreign Office, succeeded Talleyrand in the same 
office ; and Bernadotte was made Minister of War. J 

The departure of Fran9ois de Neufchateau was soon followed by 
the suppression of the Council of which I was a member. How- 
ever, as Bernadotte was brother-in-law to Joseph Bonaparte, with 
whom I had continued on friendly terms, the latter thought I 
should do well to return to the War Department, and proposed 

* On the 2d Ventose, year VII. (March 12, lygg). 

f On account of its meeting in this place, the Club was known, during 
its existence of seven or eight months, as the " Club du Manege." 

t This little political revolution occurred on the 27th to 30th Prairial, 
year VII. (June 15 to 18, 1799). 



138 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

me to the Minister as Secretary-General. But Bernadotte, who 
was just then completely devoted to the new Jacobins, and sur- 
rounded by the most violent members of the Riding-School Club, 
on whom he bestowed every vacant place in his department, did 
not consider me sufl'iciently patriotic, and declined to accede to 
Joseph Bonaparte's request. 

This annoying state of things had lasted for four months, when 
an accidental circumstance came to my aid, and caused me once 
more to leave Paris. 

Deforgues, of whom I had occasion to speak in the second 
chapter of these Memoirs, and to whom I owed my entry into a 
diplomatic career, was appointed in Vendemiaire, year VIII., as 
Minister Plenipotentiary to the Batavian Republic, where he was 
at first to be associated with, and aftenvards to succeed, Florent- 
Guyot, then at the Hague. Deforgues, with the consent of the 
Directory, made me an offer to accompany him, but without an 
ostensible position. A letter from the Minister of Exterior Rela- 
tions entrusted me only with a financial negotiation at Amsterdam, 
for the purpose of claiming for France the Batavian scrip that be- 
longed to us, as payment of the contributions agreed upon between 
the two States, and which had been deposited in that city. 

I eagerly embraced this opportunity of escaping from the trying 
position in which I found myself, and I accepted both Deforgues' 
proposition and the mission offered me by the Minister of Exterior 
Relations. Bernadotte, who had not been able to agree with the 
Executive Directory, had already left the War Office. He was 
succeeded by Dubois-Crance, a still more ardent patriot than he, 
but who did not entertain a similar prejudice against me. 

I left Paris on the 13th Vendemiaire, year VHI. (October 5. 
1799), just as the news was arriving of the victory, or rather the 
succession of victories, gained by Massena over the Russians in 
his fourteen days' fighting before Zurich ; memorable days during 
which Massena displayed the highest military talent. 

Never was victory so disputed, never was victory more neces- 
sary. France would have been invaded had Massena been de- 
feated. 

In passing through Morfontaine, I stayed with Joseph Bona- 
parte. He approved my reasons for leaving Paris ; but at the 
same time let me see that he hoped my absence would not be 
long, and that the return of his brother would bring it to an end. 
On this occasion he told me that means had been found of in- 
forming the Cicneral of the situation in France, and even of send- 
ing him an order of recall, to which the signatures of the mem- 
bers of the Directory had been obtained from them unawares, 
while they were signing other papers. Bourbaki, a Greek, long 



A CLEVER DEVICE. I39 

attached to the Bonaparte family, had undertaken to convey the 
message and the order to Egypt, for the sum of 24,000 francs 
(^960), which had been handed over to him. The two brothers, 
Lucien and Joseph Bonaparte, the contrivers of this clever de- 
vice, were waiting impatiently for news of the result. The only 
return I could make for their confidence was by earnest wishes for 
their success. At that time I regarded Bonaparte's return as the 
happiest event that could befall my country. He, alone, seemed 
to me able to save her from the ruin now impending ; and on re- 
suming my journey I carried with me at least a glimmer of hope 
which consoled me for the necessity I was under of separating 
myself from my family and of leaving France. 

We journeyed through Lille, Menin, and Bruges, whence we 
intended to go on to Zealand ; but Deforgues, who was in haste 
to reach Holland, having relinquished that idea, we crossed the 
Scheldt, and proceeded to Antwerp, where we stayed one day. 
In spite of the preparations for commerce made at the mouth of 
the Scheldt, the city remained deserted and without trade. There 
were no signs that she would ever recover her ancient splendour. 

We left Antwerp for Helvoetsluys on the 13th Vendemiaire 
(October 9), and arrived there, after a most fatiguing day, at ten 
in the evening. Helvoetsluys is situated on the Bies Bosch, and 
both wind and tide being favourable, we embarked at night on a 
decked vessel, which brought us to Rotterdam in six hours. I 
had already (in 1788) made a pleasure trip to Holland, but the 
pleasure with which I contemplated the aspect of that city when 
approached from the Meuse was quite new. The approach to 
Venice by the lagoons has been greatly admired ; I was now en- 
abled to compare the two points of view, which in some respects 
are much alike, and I do not hesitate to give the preference to 
Rotterdam. 

At Rotterdam we were but a few leagues from the Hague. 
Deforgues, however, thought it of great importance to see General 
Brune, before making his mission officially known, and the 
General was just then at the extremity of North Holland. We 
therefore avoided the Hague, and travelled by land to Gouda, and 
thence to Amsterdam. It is when journeying along this route 
that a fair idea of Holland may be gained. Nothing can equal 
the charm of the landscape ; the eye dwells with delight on the 
emerald-green pastures, with their herds of cattle, on the innumer- 
able winding canals covered with constantly moving vessels. 
While the heart is gladdened by this rich and smiling panorama 
of peace and plenty, which, in spite of its monotony, is always 
fascinating, the imagination is struck with amazement by the works 
that have been undertaken, by the victories won over Nature, in 



140 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

order to wrest these half-submerged lands from the waters, and to 
turn pestilential and uninhabitable marshes into delightful gardens 
and fertile pasturage. These miracles of art, these noble results 
of liberty, rank in the estimation of a friend of humanity far above 
all the marvels of antiquity. 

We slept at Amsterdam, and on the next day, the 20th Vende- 
miaire (October i 2\ we started ver}' early in the morning to make 
our way through Haarlem to Alkmaer, the headquarters of the 
French army in North Holland. 

The road alongside the canal from Amsterdam to Haarlem is a 
ver}^ fine one. Half way between the two towns are the sluices 
which presence communication between the Lake of Haarlem and 
the gulf called Het Y. * The waters of this gulf are, at high tides, 
higher than the surrounding land, and in the construction of the 
dykes every means has been resorted to, to restrain this mass of 
water, which would inundate all Holland. The dykes present the 
appearance of a wide belt, following and marking out the outline 
of the gulf. They are closed at the lower end by a wattle-fence, 
against which is an embankment of earth supported by strong 
piles, in close proximity to each other. There are four sluices, 
placed two by two, in parallel lines. Two of them open on to 
Het Y and two on to Lake Haarlem. The sea beats unceasingly 
against this barrier, and its waves, which seem to threaten destruc- 
tion to the low-lying land, have for three centuries broken against 
it in vain, nor succeeded in breaking it down. At low tide the 
level of the waters of Het Y becomes lower than that of Lake 
Haarlem, and the sluices can then be opened to let out the over- 
flow of the lake into the sea, and thus diminish the volume of its 
waters. 

After admiring these daring and splendid works, we continued 
our way by Haarlem, Bcverwick, and Castricum, traversing the 
battle-field where, a few days before, the French had gained a de- 
cisive victcTry over the united forces of the English and Russians. 
We at last reached Alkmaer on the evening of the 20th Vende- 
miaire. 

The following is a sketch of the military situation at that time : 

The English had appeared on the Dutch coasts, near the Helder 
foreland, in the middle of August 1799, and had seized on the 
Batavian fleet stationed at Texel. The crews of these vessels, hav- 
ing been previously bribed, had mutinied. The English had, at 

* Het Y, properly the Greek I, on account of its shape, is a mass of 
water which issues from the Zuydcrzee, and is connected with it by the 
Strait of Pampus and by the canal on which Amsterdam is built. The 
canal bears the same name as the river. Hot Y spreads far over the 
country, where it lakes the name of BrciU Wasser, Wide Water. 



THE MILITARY SITUATION. 14I 

the same time, effected a landing, and notwithstanding some op- 
position offered by General Daendels at the head of the Batavian 
troops, they had taken up a position in the Zype.* Meanwhile, 
Genera] Brune, having been despatched by the Directory to com- 
mand the French and Batavian troops, had arrived at Alkmaer, on 
the 17th Fructidor, year VII. (September 3, 1799). But the 
divisions which were to form his army not having come up, he had 
not been able to act on the offensive, and had restricted himself to 
checking the enemy. The English army in the meantime, having 
been reinforced towards the middle of September by the first 
division of the Russian troops, comprising from twelve to thirteen 
thousand men, mustered from thirty to thirty-five thousand. This 
force was commanded by the Duke of York, who resolved on 
attacking General Brune before he should have been joined by the 
troops he was expecting from Belgium. The engagement took 
place on the third complementary day of year VII. (September 19, 
1799), in the neighbourhood of Bergen. The victory was unde- 
cided, and after the battle the two armies again took up the posi- 
tions they had held on the previous day. The English once more 
intrenched themselves in the Zype where they awaited the coming 
of the second Russian division. General Brune, on his side, forti- 
fied his position, and held himself on the defensive. 

The two armies remained thus until the nth Vendemiaire 
(October 3), on which day the Duke of York led a general attack 
on the French and Batavians. General Brune evacuated Alkmaer, 
and fell back on an excellent position, fixing his headquarters at 
Beverwick, about seven miles from Haarlem, where, having 
received considerable reinforcements between the 12th and 13th 
Vendemiaire, he maintained his defensive attitude. Lastly, on 
the 14th Vendemiaire, the Duke of York, unable to draw the 
enemy out of his position, made a desperate attack along the whole 
line of the Gallo-Batavian army. This affair, which took place 
between Beverwick and Castricum, was very bloody and undecisive 
from daybreak till nightfall, when Brune himself, charging at the 
head of his column, forced the English to relinquish the battle- 
field. All the advantages gained on that day were, how^ever, by 
no means fully known. The first despatches of the General con- 
fined themselves to announcing his repulse of the enemy, and the 
capture of fifteen hundred prisoners. 

It was not until the next day that the brilliant results of the 
victory were properly appreciated. The English abandoned all 

" A large tract of land in North Holland, formerly uncultivated, but 
which had been tilled by the labours of the Dutch. The canals and roads 
which bound or traverse this island, as it may be called, are natural en- 
trenchments, rendering it almost impregnable. 



142 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the positions they had held a few days before, and returned once 
more to the shelter of the entrenchments of the Zype, after evacu- 
ating Alkmaer. and all the towns of North Holland. The French 
and the Batiivians re-entered these towns on the i6th Vendemiaire, 
and even took possession of several places they had not occupied 
before their retreat, and which enabled them to press the enemy 
still more closely. 

Such was the position of the armies when we saw General 
Brune at Alkmaer. He was full of hope and confidence as to the 
issues of the campaign, and did not for one instant doubt the suc- 
cess of our arms. He only hesitated to attack the enemy in his 
formidable entrenchments, because an attempt to force them would 
entail great bloodshed. On this account he thought it well to 
examine whether it would not be wiser to wait until the difficulty 
of obtaining supplies, and the approach of the winter, which would 
soon prevent an embarkation, should determine the Duke of York 
to capitulate. 

The General was ill-disposed towards the Batavian Government. 
He seemed to have no doubt that some of its members had come 
to an understanding with the English, and as a proof of this, he 
cited the confidence displayed by the Duke of York in the good- 
will of those magistrates which, according to him, had induced 
the English to undertake the expedition. 

We left Alkmaer on the 21st Vendemiaire, and the following 
day we arrived at the Hague. 

For the clear comprehension of the events that took place dur- 
ing my stay in that city, and which I shall have to narrate, a 
succinct account of the political state of the country is necessary. 

Holland had been conquered by the French in the middle of 
the winter 1794, 1795. Pichegru had entered Amsterdam the 
2istNiv6se, year HI. (January 10, 1795). The Stadtholder had 
fled ; the English had re-embarked, and the whole of Holland, 
left to herself, had imitated France and adopted a Republican 
Constitution. But this Constitution had been of slow growth. 
The habits of the Dutch, mIio are more phlegmatic than we are, 
the obstacles raised by the numerous and powerful partisans of the 
House of Orange and of the feudal system, had prolonged the de- 
bates on the form of the Constitution for more than two years. 
Two National Assemblies had met successively in the years 1795, 
1796 and 1797, and the result of their labours, on being submit- 
ted to the approval of the Batavian peo|)le, had been rejected. 
The Public Administration, existing provisionally under the name 
of States-Ciencral or National Assembly, was almost paralysed, and 
this state of things, sedulously fostered by the enemies of France, 
laid the country oj)eii to foreign invasion at a time when the fear 



A COUP D'ETAT. 143 



of renewed hostilities in Germany prevented our retaining suffi- 
cient troops in Holland for the defence of that country. 

In this dangerous conjuncture the Executive Directory in Paris, 
which never acted except in an irregular manner, could find no 
other expedient than a Coup d'Etat, whose result, being similar to 
that of the i8th Fructidor in France, would overthrow the Stadt- 
holder's party and the Federals, and would throw the direction of 
affairs into the hands of the Patriots, as they were called at that 
time. 

This Coup d'Etat was effected on January 22, 1798 (3d Plu- 
viose, year VI.). A kind of popular insurrection having occurred, 
the principal members of the Provisional Government and twenty- 
two deputies of the National Assembly were arrested, the acts of 
the last States-General were annulled, the unity and indivisibility 
of the Batavian Republic were proclaimed, and the National As- 
sembly took the name of Constituent Assembly. Following the 
example of the capital, the provincial administrations and the 
municipalities were changed, the Federalists were exiled, and the 
party of the Patriots was everywhere triumphant. The new Con- 
stituent Assembly acted with as much celerity as the preceding 
Assemblies had acted with procrastination. An Executive Direc- 
tory was appointed, and in two months a new Constitution was 
drawn up. 

This was adopted on March 17 (27th Ventose), and was submit- 
ted for the sanction of the Batavian people, who, being gathered 
together in primary assemblies on April 23d (4th Floreal), bestowed 
their approval on it. The Constitution was an exact reproduction 
of that of France ; there was a Legislative Body divided into two 
Chambers, and consisting, when first formed, of two-thirds of the 
members of the Constituent Assembly ; an Executive Directory, 
Ministers, &c. A general fete, held on May 19, 1798 (30th 
Floreal, year VI. ), inaugurated the new Institutions. But, not- 
withstanding this outward demonstration of universal satisfaction, 
the various parties were by no means reconciled. The so-called 
Patriots, so soon as they had seized on power, abused it, remov- 
ing from their places and prosecuting all those who were not ex- 
clusively of their opinion, and arousing discontent that was justi- 
fied by their conduct. They estranged, in particular, General 
Daendels, a man of an enterprising spirit, and of justly deserved 
military reputation acquired under Pichegru and Moreau. The 
General seemed first to approve of the events of January 22, but 
when he perceived that authority was falling into the hands of 
men whose fanatical republicanism he was far from sharing, he be- 
came the enemy of the Government, and assumed so threatening 
an attitude that the Batavian Directory resolved to have him arrest- 



144 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ed. On being informed of this intention, Daendels fled to Paris. 
Once there, he curried favour with the Directors, decried the Gov- 
ernment of his country to them, and obtained their aj)provaI of a 
project he had conceived for its overthrow, and for the substitution 
of one more in accordance with his own views. 

Armetl with an assurance that he would not be disowned by 
France, the General returned to the Hague, gained over to his 
party five of the Ministers of the Directory, and, at the head of a 
few grenadiers, he invested the Directory in broad day and arrested 
the members. The result of this daring deed was an entire change 
of the Government and the Administration. A new Directory was 
formed ; Daendels was placed at the head of the Batavian army, 
and the extreme Patriot party was checked. Thus the supreme 
power passed into the hands of less fanatical men, better qualified 
to manage public affairs, but who, like their predecessors, found 
themselves forced to adopt violent measures for the maintenance of 
their authority. 

More than a year had elapsed since this last revolution, when 
the English carried out their project of invading Holland. So 
soon as it was known that they had appeared on the coast, the 
Patriot party failed not to spread the report that this attempt was 
made in consequence of an understanding between the English 
and the members ot the Government, and that the former expected 
to find the interior of the country favourable to them. Nor indeed 
can it be doubted that the English really reckoned on this. Their 
own conduct, as well as the mutiny of the crews of the Dutch fleet 
M'hich surrendered to them without having fired a gun, prove that 
they had made use of means of persuasion, and that they counted 
on their effect. 

We must, however, do justice to the Batavian authorities, who 
showed more firmness and decision in these critical circumstances 
than might have been expected ; General Daendels, especially, 
whom the Patriot i)arty had formerly accused of having ungarri- 
soned the Hclder in order to deliver up the fleet to the English,' 
acted with great resolution and courage in the first engagements 
with the enemy. He was unable to repel them, but he kept them 
in check until the arrival of General Brune. Shortly afterwards 
the victory of Beverwick, by dispelling the fears or the hopes which 
were aroused by the i)rcsence of the English, according to the 
various interests by which men's minds were moved, had strength- 
ened the Government and united the parties, at least in appear- 
ance. The Directory had acquired some confidence, but it was 
beginning to perceive the advantages that his military successes 
secured to the French General, and felt more than ever its depend- 
ence on France. On the other hand, General Daendels, although 



DAENDELS. I45 



this Directory was his own work, became day by day more formida- 
ble to it, on account of his overweening pretensions, and gratitude 
for his services became very burdensome to the Government. 

Such was the position of affairs when we arrived at the Hague. 
The aim of the mission confided to Deforgues was not clearly de- 
fined. At the time of the landing of the English in Holland the 
French Directory, ill at ease as to the consequences of that aggres- 
sion, and with little reliance in the talents or trustworthiness of 
Florent-Guyot, whom, nevertheless, they had appointed Minister 
Plenipotentiary at the Hague a few months before, conceived the 
idea of giving him a colleague on whom they could more confi- 
dently reckon, and who, bearing the same title and invested with 
the same attributes, would direct affairs in conformity with the 
views of the French Government. Nothing more wildly extrava- 
gant can be conceived. It was evident that the two could not 
agree, and that the Minister who until now had exercised his func- 
tions independently, would never consent to submit to the instruc- 
tions of the new comer. I was therefore not at all surprised at the 
failure of this plan. Florent-Guyot received us very coldly ; a 
long discussion arose between him and Deforgues, in the course of 
which Florent-Guyot made bitter complaints of the insult inflicted 
on him, declined to come to any kind of terms, and made us feel 
that our position was an embarrassing one. On the very next 
day, therefore, after our arrival at the Hague, I wrote to Reinhart 
that it was imperatively necessary one of the two Ministers should 
be recalled. While awaiting a reply to that letter, we could not 
remain inactive. Deforgues presented his letters of credit, and saw 
the members of the Dutch Directory, who, being unable to un- 
derstand this diplomatic anomaly, knew not with which of the two 
Ministers they ought to deal. Fortunately, circumstances had 
changed, and fear of the progress of the English arms was nearly 
at an end. Our mission was therefore almost objectless ; only its 
absurdity remained. 

Very soon, in fact, all danger completely disappeared. General 
Brune had just concluded the terms of a capitulation with the 
Duke of York, in virtue of which the Anglo-Russian army was to 
re-embark and evacuate the lands, coasts, islands and seas of the 
Dutch Republic within fifteen days.* Brune had demanded the 
restitution of the Dutch fleet as one of the conditions ; but the 
Duke of York did not hold himself authorized to agree to the res- 
titution, and had confined himself to promising his good offices 

* This capitulation was signed at Alkmaer, 26th Vend6miaire, year 
VIII. (October 18, 1799), between Brigadier-General Rostolan and Major- 
General Knox. The text will be found in the Moniieur of 5th Brumaire, 
year VIII. 



146 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

with the English Government ; an intervention from which noth- 
ing was to be expected. 

The capitulation was, however, advantageous on ever)^ point ; 
it put an end to the war, freed the Dutch territory from a formi- 
dable enemv, and inflicted disgrace upon the English, while it 
ruined their credit in the country. These were considerable re- 
sults, and nothing was wanting to the glory of the French General. 

He hastened to the Hague in order to .enjoy his triumph. 

The flags taken at the battle of Beverwick were presented with 
great pomp to the Dutch Directory ; public fetes were given, 
Brune was received with great magnificence by the Dutch Govern- 
ment and was loaded with honours and flattering distinctions. 
But, in escaping from the English and Russian armies, the Dutch 
Republic fell under another yoke, no less heavy. Victory had 
made the French absolute masters of the country ; the victorious 
General demanded large sums of money and constantly complained 
of not receiving enough. He imperiously dictated laws which had 
to be obeyed, and, notwithstanding the deference shown to his 
wishes, his dissatisfaction with the Directory increased in the 
measure of his exactions. In the course of several conversations 
with President Van Hoff, I was enabled to perceive how intoler- 
able this state of dependence had become, and that it still further 
estranged the inhabitants, who were already so ill-disposed towards 
us. However, far from incurring blame in Paris, the General was 
encouraged rather to multiply his exactions than to restrict them. 
He had induced the French Directory to adopt his prejudices 
against some of the members of the Dutch Government, and par- 
ticularly against Van der Goes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
Reinhart, who by having Florent-Guyot recalled, had made our 
position more tenable and augmented our influence, wrote to us 
in a more pacific sense ; but Brune paid no attention to our infor- 
mation and laughed at our moderation. In short, he comf)letely 
carried his point, and on the nth Brumaire (Nov. 10) we received 
orders from the Directory to demand the dismissal of the four 
Ministers: Van der Goes, from "External Relations," Pyman, 
from War ; Spoores, from the Navy ; and Gogel, from Finance. 
All four were disliked by the Patriot party, who could not forgive 
them the part they had taken in the Revolution of the 12th of 
June, 1798. Yet they were men of worth ; Gogel, especially, was 
distinguished as a financier, and was believed to be perfectly con- 
versant with the resources of Holland. It was easy to see by this 
action on the part of the Executive Directory in Paris that, since 
the 30th Prairial, and the expulsion of Merlin, Treilhard and Lare- 
veillere-Lepaux, the Cjovernment, led by the new Jacobins of the 
Riding-School Club, leaned exclusively on the extreme Patriot party, 



A CRISIS IN HOLLAND. 147 



and wished to establish it also in the Dutch Republic, by undoing 
what had been accomplished on the 12th of June, 1798. Daen- 
dels, who at this period was at the Hague, had lost all his influ- 
ence, and Brune gave him no chance of regaining it. 

Thus everything announced a fresh political crisis in Holland ; 
and this would inevitably have occurred, with the help of Brune, 
if the events then taking place in Paris, which were far from being 
suspected at the Hague, had not forestalled a third revolution. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The news of the Revolution of i8th and 19th Brumairc reaches the Hague 
— The Author, who is summoned to Paris to fill the office of Secretary- 
General to the Ministry of War, leaves the Hague — The physiognomy 
of Paris — Narrative of the events of Brumaire — Interview of the 
Author with Bonaparte — Sieyes' plan for a Constitution is rejected — 
The Constitution of year VHI. is adopted — The Author is appointed a 
member of the Tribunate — The nature of that Institution — A spirit of 
opposition within it is developed at an inopportune moment — Rapid 
increase of the authority and power of the First Consul, who adopts 
monarchical forms more and more decidedly — Rumours of conspiracies 
serve as a pretext for arbitrary measures— Fouche and Lucien Bonaparte 
quarrel violently in the presence of the First Consul — The system of 
fusion of parties carried out with success by the First Consul. 

0\ the 25th Vendemiaire (October 15) we learned that Bonaparte 
had landed on the i6th of the same month. From what I knew 
of the proceedings of his brothers the news did not surprise me. I 
was calculating the chances that this unexpected event might bring 
about a great change for the nation. Neither news nor letter, 
however, came from Paris to enlighten us, and the Dutch Direc- 
tory was, or at least appeared to be, in a similar state of ignorance. 
Brune only had received a letter from Bonaparte, which he showed 
us. In that letter the General congratulated himself on having 
" again found one of his lieutenants at the head of a victorious 
army." This expression had greatly incensed Brune ; and indeed 
what more could Ca:sar have said } If we had already a Caisar in 
our Republic, it was in a bad way. Nothing, however, had yet 
transpired, and every day I became more astonished at the inex- 
plicable calm. At last, on the 2 2d Brumaire (November 13), at 
seven o'clock in the morning, we received a visit from the Presi- 
dent of the Dutch Directory. A courier had arrived during the 
night, bringing him the news of the events of the i8th and 19th 
Brumaire. But the slight information that the newspapers afford- 
ed us, being only up to the date of the 19th Brumaire, the reserve 
of the President, who was afraid of committing himself, prevented 
us from forming an opinion as to the nature of these events, and 
we did not know whether to rejoice or fear. All I could perceive 
clearly was that Bonaparte was becoming the arbiter of the destiny 
of France, and that if he rescued her from the anarchy and degra- 



BERTHIER SUMMONS THE AUTHOR. I49 

dation into which the Directory and the Legislative Councils had 
plunged her, it was to be feared, judging from what I knew of him, 
that he would make her pay for that service at the price of her 
liberty. 

The President who brought us this news, was, it was easy to see, 
notwithstanding all his caution, well satisfied with a movement 
which, by placing Bonaparte at the head of the French Govern- 
ment, saved the Dutch Republic from danger. Brune, on the 
contrary, whom we saw afterwards, was evidently uneasy ; and in 
the uncertainty as to which party would triumph, he thought it 
well to be prepared to join one side or the other with his army, 
and gave immediate orders to stop the march of some demi- 
brigades which, as they were no longer necessary since the em- 
barkation of the English, were about to return to France. But 
this notion of opposition to Bonaparte did not last long. A revo- 
lution which placed political power in the hands of the military 
suited the Generals too well to be opposed by them ; — a few days 
later Brune wisely declared his adherence to Bonaparte, and thence- 
forth served him honestly. 

We passed the 23d Brumaire in great anxiety. At last, in the 
evening, full particulars arrived, and the first impression I received 
from them was, I admit, a very painful one. The Legislative 
Body had been ignominiously dismissed, the Constitution of year 
in. completely upset, and liberty seriously imperilled. The 
names of those who had been actors in this Revolution, or who 
had been privy to it, and whose principles were known to me, 
were, however, reassuring ; I could not believe that such men 
would lend their aid to one who avowed himself inimical to those 
principles. I was therefore in the state of restlessness which is 
always produced by events not thoroughly understood, when I re- 
ceived despatches from General Berthier, who had just been 
appointed Minister of War, and who sent for me to fill the very 
place of Secretary-General which the Patriot Bernadotte had refused 
to give me a few months previously. I soon made up my mind 
to accept the offer, although as yet I was unable to form an exact 
idea of what had taken place, or to judge of it with coolness. 
Brune gave me a letter for Berthier, and said sufficient to let me 
see that he had relinquished his warhke projects. I saw M. Van 
Hoff, the President of the Dutch Directory. He had great hopes 
in the new order of things now in preparation, and flattered him- 
self that he should be rid both of Brune and Deforgues, whom he 
disliked equally. I also paid a visit to M. Van der Goes, Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, against whom the French Government was 
strongly prejudiced, and on whose dismissal it imperatively insist- 
ed. Van der Goes complained with great moderation of the un- 



150 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

just persecution he had suffered, and at the same time showed no 
anxiety respecting its result. Nothing could have happened more 
opportunely for the Dutch Government than the i8th Brumaire,* 
and he was quite aware of this. Deforgues, on the contrary, was 
grieved at my departure, and very anxious about his own future 
prospects. His anxiety was not unfounded, for shortly afterwards 
he was recalled from the Hague, and succeeded by Semonville. 

I began my homeward journey on the 26th Brumaire (Novem- 
ber 17), and left Holland regretting that I had been unable to 
acquire a more thorough knowledge of the country. The short 
term of my second stay in Holland had confirmed me in the opin- 
ion I had formed of the moral excellence of its inhabitants, and of 
the domestic virtues generally pre\^iling there. I had beheld with 
regret the conduct of the French Government towards a nation 
which offered it such valuable resources, and whose good-will it 
would have been quite possible to gain. But we had delivered it 
over to schemers, harshly subjected it to military authority, and 
had made ourselves hated. It was only force that held Holland 
to France, no other point of contact had been touched. The Paris 
Directory, which had despotically oppressed Holland, was no 
longer in existence, and her greatest enemy was overthrown ; was 
she destined to be happier and more independent under the new 
power which had just arisen in France.? The lapse of time has 
answered that question in the negative. 

I was impatient for fuller information, and I hastened on to 
Paris as quickly as possible. I arrived there on the ist Frimaire 
(November 22). The capital seemed very quiet ; satisfaction and 
hope were expressed in every countenance ; great things were ex- 
pected of the newly-accomplished Revolution. But I was surprised 
to find that very different versions were given, not only of the 
causes of that revolution, but even of its events. I made great 
efforts to solve the mystery that seemed to envelope the facts. A 
knowledge' of these things was indispensable, both to put an end to 
my state of uncertainty and for the ordering of my own conduct. 
My friend Gallois rendered me a great service in this uncertainty. 
He was an eye-witness of the events, and being a profound and 
unprejudiced observer, he was peculiarly fitted to appreciate them. 
I will therefore give his own narrative, which is indisputably ac- 
curate and perfectly impartial. 

On Bonaparte's arrival in France, lie desired to protect himself 
from the risks of a sUite of inactiun such as had subsisted during 
his former stay in Paris, before his departure for Egypt. He 

* The iQth Hrumaire, rather, for it was on that day only that the Revo- 
lution took place. Nothing decisive occurred on the previous day. 



THE FACTS OF THE REVOLUTION. 151 

found the conjuncture favourable to his wishes. The Directory, 
so to speak, no longer existed. The unfit and unknown men who 
had been appointed to it after the 30th Prairial inspired neither 
respect nor fear. Barras, who was now irretrievably discredited, 
was concluding a reign usurped too long. Sieyes, only, had still 
a party, but he was eager to secure the adoption of his own plan 
of a Constitution, and ardently desired a revolution which would 
allow him to bring his composition to light. Talleyrand under- 
took to bring together the two men, who, with very different ends 
in view, were yet agreed on that one point, the overthrow of the 
existing order of things. To Bonaparte he said, ' ' You want 
power, and Sieyes wants a new Constitution ; unite together to 
destroy that which now exists, since it is an obstacle to both of 
you. ' ' He said to Sieyes, ' ' You wish to put your theories in 
practice, and all that Bonaparte wants is a guarantee against the 
Jacobins, and a post in which he will be safe from their attacks. 
Join him then ; he will give you the practical means you require, 
and you will ensure him the place he is seeking. ' ' 

The ice being broken, a Committee was formed, consisting of 
Bonaparte, Sieyes, Talleyrand, Roederer, Cabanis, Lucien Bona- 
parte, and Regnier of the Council of the Ancients. In this Com- 
mittee the elements of the Revolution of Brumaire were discussed 
and arranged. When the first steps had been agreed upon, a few 
persons were admitted to confidence ; among these were Volney 
and Boulay (de la Meurthe). It was decided next, that the Com- 
mission of Inspectors of the Council of the Ancients should be in- 
formed of the resolutions that had been come to. But it is to be 
noted that the latter were not entrusted with the secret of the plan 
in its entirety ; they were spoken to only of the necessity of crush- 
ing the Jacobins, who were becoming more dangerous every day, 
and that they consented solely in view of this, to the project of re- 
moving the Legislative Body out of Paris. The same motive acted 
on the Commission of Inspectors of the Council of the Five 
Hundred. The real aim, change of Constitution, was concealed 
from all those who were not comprised in the Committee. 

Every one knows perfectly well what took place on the 1 8th 
Brumaire. The proposal to transfer the Legislative Body to St. 
Cloud was made at the Council of the Ancients, and was adopted. 
The command of the Armed Force was given to Bonaparte. 
General Moreau consented to serve under him. Other steps were 
taken, but that day was, so to speak, one of preparation only. 
The following day, the 1 9th Brumaire, was decisive and much more 
important. Its particulars are less well known, because it was the 
interest of the victorious party to conceal many of them. 

In accordance with a resolution taken on the i8th Brumaire, 



152 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Council of the Hvc Hundred was convoked at St. Cloud un 
the I9tli. The hour of meeting was nine in the morning. If the 
Deputies, who arrived in the hired conveyances of the suburbs of 
Paris, had found tiie place in readiness and the sitting begun at 
that hour, there is no doubt that, having had no opportunity of 
consulting together, they would have agreed without difficulty to 
the measures proposed to them. The chiefs and leaders of the 
Assembly would only have had to act oji isolated individuals, 
who, being ignorant of the extent to which measures had been 
taken for forcing their consent from them, would have been alive 
only to the danger and uselessness of resistance. But it was other- 
wise, and through an unaccountable negligence nothing was ready 
at the appointed hour. The Deputies therefore dispersed into the 
gardens, where groups soon gathered together ; questions were 
asked reciprocally ; it was asked what could be the motive of this 
extraordinary remo\'al, and a report soon spread that the hidden 
purpose of the step was to effect a change in the Constitution. 
From that moment every one was alive to the consequences of so 
great a convulsion, and the fear of losing an easy position, which 
would be the inevitable result of such a movement, and which a 
great number of Deputies contemplated with dismay, made all 
those not in the secret cast in their lot with the Jacobin minority 
of the Council of the Five Hundred. 

In such a disposition of men's minds, the aspect of the Assem- 
bly at the opening of the sitting was altogether different from what 
had been expected. Emile Gaudin, who appeared first at the 
Tribune, was hooted, and cries of " Long live the Constitution of 
year III." interrupted his speech. Grandmaison, one of the 
most extreme members of Ihe Council, turned this movement to 
account, and proposed to verify the sentiment spontaneously 
manifested by the Assembly by an oath administered to each 
member. The oath was jLaken by every one of the members, in- 
cluding Lucien Bonaparte himself,* to the great surprise of those 
who, being in the secret of the plan, beheld all the hopes they had 
indulged vanish in a moment. It was easy to detect astonishment 
and dismay in the altered countenances of Maret, De Laborie,f 
and others who had hastened to St. Cloud. 

But it was precisely the time required for the " nominal appeal " 
necessary to the taking of the oath, that gave the authors of the 
scheme an opportunity of rallying their forces. Under such cir- 
cumstances a delay of two hours was a great chance for them, and 
they took advantage of it. Bonaparte determined to enter the 

* He was President of the Council of the Five Hundred, 
f One of Talleyrand's confidants. 



LUCIEN'S HARANGUE. 1 53 

Assembly ; but scarcely had he appeared, when furious cries of 
*' Hors la loif were heard. *' What does this man want ?" was 
shouted on all sides ; "by what right does he enter here ?' ' 
These cries, and especially the words ''Hors la loif" seemed to 
affect Bonaparte deeply ; he withdrew, pale and downcast. His 
retreat increased the boldness of the opposite party, which then 
found itself in a large majority, and the minority, trembling and 
discouraged, gave up the contest. The most violent motions were 
made in succession and instantly carried. Lucien Bonaparte, who 
was obliged to apologise for his brother, and to excuse him on the 
ground of the importance of his past services, was without strength 
or ability to stem the torrent by which the Assembly was carried 
away. He was withdrawn from this critical position by a picket 
of grenadiers, who took him from a committee-room and escorted 
him to beyond the Hall of Assembly. 

When Lucien reached the outer court of the Palace, where the 
troops were assembled and under arms, he declared that force 
alone could complete what had been begun, and that they must 
either perish or employ that last resource. He mounted his 
horse, and vehemently harangued the soldiers, denouncing angrily 
* ' the daggers lifted against his brother, ' ' * then, taking advantage 
of the momentary enthusiasm he had kindled, he ordered a battal- 
ion of grenadiers to follow Murat into the Assembly. The sol- 
diers charged, dispersed the Assembly in an instant, and drove out 
the Deputies. Incommoded by their ' ' togas, ' ' and holding their 
classic headgear in their hand, the discomfited Deputies dispersed 
into the woods, where many of them, in order to escape the pur- 
suit of the soldiers, left behind them those melancholy symbols of 
departed dignity. The spectacle was at once painful and ridicu- 
lous, an indelible affront which was a signal for a long-lasting 
annihilation of any true representation of the nation. 

The troops who had been engaged in these proceedings left a 
picket of fifty men in the interior of the Hall, and returned to the 
courtyard, where they were received with applause. The appro- 
bation was, however, not unanimous ; many of the spectators re- 
gretted that applause should be bestowed upon a deed which, 
while perhaps necessary to prevent greater evils, was repugnant to 
every lover of liberty. Some field-officers even, expressed their 
displeasure, and shortly afterwards the soldiers would have refused 
to obey. 

The victory was now won, and the business of the moment was 



* This was a figure of speech. It has since been represented as a 
reality, and an assertion has been made that a Corsican who happened to 
be at St. Cloud turned aside the stroke intended for Bonaparte. 



154 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to profit by it. The mistake of supposing that by the consent of 
the majority of the Council of the Five Hundred an appearance of 
leg-ahty coukl be given to the purposed changes, and the errors of 
detail that had been committed, had thrown everything out of gear, 
by rendering the substitution of force for the ordinary progress of 
a debate necessary. In truth, there existed now only a usurper, 
and that usurper was Bonaparte. How would he be looked upon 
by France ? To what danger would he not be exposed by that 
odious appellation ? 

In the midst of the general confusion and uncertainty, it 
occurred to Joseph Bonaparte to assemble the remains of the 
Council of the Five Hundred, and, with the aid of that mutilated 
body, to carry out the measures which they had intended to adopt 
in the complete Assembly in the morning. At nine in the even- 
ing about fifty members of the P^ive Hundred assembled ; this 
fraction was called the majority of the Council. The same thing 
was done with respect to the Council of Ancients, and that muti- 
lated Assembly passed the decrees, that were published the next 
day, for the suppression of the Councils, the abolition of the 
Directory, and the creation of three Consuls. 

When we compare this account with those contained in the 
Moniteur and the newspapers of the day, we see how the truth was 
distorted in official publications, and we also understand the 
motives of that distortion. We are struck, above all, with the 
small share taken by Bonaparte in the events of a day which 
founded his immense power. Although the truth was known to 
numerous eye-witnesses, and suspected by many others, by the 
time of my arrival in Paris success had justified the means. The 
contempt into which the Directory had sunk, the fear of falling 
once more under the rule of the Jacobins, the hopes awakened by 
Bonaparte's talents and the fame he had acquired, rendered the 
Parisians very indulgent to the means which had brought about a 
result from which increased happiness and increased glor}' were 
alike expected. Thus I found all the lovers of their country rally- 
ing round Bonaparte ; crowds flocked to the Luxembourg where 
he resided ; he was looked upon as the well-spring of wealth and 
honours, and every one tried to approach him. 

I saw Bonaparte on 4th Frimaire (Nov. 25). He embraced me 
cordially, and receivetl me with the same affection he had formerly 
shown me. I thought his tone in conversation firmer and fuller 
than before. His naturally strong mind had gained in vigour un- 
der the strain of the perilous expedition to Egypt, and he was full 
of courage. As he knew my ()})inions, he expressed a firm deter- 
mination to respect public liberty, but at the same time he insisted 
on the necessity of creating a stronger magistracy than that which 



SIEVES SCHEME. 1 55 



had just been overthrown, and inclined towards all that tended to 
centralise authority. His manners were less abrupt, and he culti- 
vated a more graceful method of speech, but his impatient nature 
still made itself felt throughout. 

Our conversation turned almost wholly on the new scheme of a 
Constitution then occupying the Commission, which consisted of 
a certain number of the members of the Council of the Five 
Hundred and of the Ancients. It seemed to me that he was far 
from satisfied with the progress of the deliberations. He consid- 
ered that the part assigned to him in the Government was not ade- 
quate, and he had resolved to impart another direction to the 
labours of the Commission. 

I heard a few days afterwards that the scheme of a Constitution 
as evolved by Sieyes had not met with the success expected by its 
author. But this check to his vanity received ample compensation 
in the riches with which he was loaded. In the distribution of a 
sum of 600,000 francs (^^24,000) that was found in the treasury of 
the Directory at the moment of its overthrow, Sieyes received 
350,000* (^14,000), and Bonaparte, in addition, made him a 
present of the estate of Crone, f He found consolation in the 
price paid him for the mutilation of his scheme, of which, never- 
theless, I will here subjoin a sketch, procured for me at the time 
by Regnault de St. Jean-d'Angely. It contains some ideas worth 
noting. 

Five authorities govern the Republic : — 

1. The Legislative Authority, 

2. The Governing Authority, 

3. The Executive Authority, 

4. The Administrative Authority, and 

5. The Judicial Authority. 

I. The Legislative Authority. 

To compose the Legislative Authority, the territory of the 
Republic is supposed to be divided into large Communes. J One- 

* This sum was distributed as follows : To Si6yes, 350,000 francs ; to 
Roger Ducos, 150,000 francs ; and to Lagarde, Secretary-General, 100,000 
francs. 

f On this subject the poet Lebrun made the following epigram : 

'* Sieyes a Bonaparte avait promis un trone, 
Sous ses debris brillants voulant Tensevelir ; 
Bonaparte a Si6yes a fait present de Crone 
Pour le payer et r a vilir." 
X These Communes were much the same as the Sub- Prefectures have 
since been. 



156 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tcnlh of their population forms the body of Communal Notables. 
From among these the Communal Administrators are chosen. 

Four of these Communes form a De})artmcnt. The tenth of 
the Notables of four united Communes form the Notables of the 
Department, From among these the Administrators of the 
Department are taken. Lastly, the Notables of the Departments, 
gathered together and reduced to a tenth, furnish the Notables of 
the nation. They elect the Legislative Power from among the 
Notables only. 

The Legislative Power is composed of two Chambers, one called 
the Senate, the other the Tribunate. 

Neither of the two Chambers debates. When the Consuls pro- 
pose a law, they may send to the Tribunate three of their State 
Councillors, who discuss the project in presence of the Assembly, 
with three Tribunes previously appointed by the Assembly. After 
the discussion, the Tribunate pronounces. The law is then sent 
up to the Senate, before whom it is again discussed by the three 
Councillors of State and the three Tribunes. The Senate by secret 
ballot accepts or rejects the proposed law. 

IL The Governing Authority, 

The Governing Authority is composed of two Consuls, one for 
the Interior, the other for the Exterior. They have a Council of 
State, whose members they appoint. 

The Interior comprises everything connected with the adminis- 
tration of the country ; finance, taxes, trade, public instruction,, 
economy, &c. 

The Exterior comprises the army, the navy, and political 
matters. 

The Consuls are appointed by a Magistrate called the Grand 
Elector, who may dismiss them at pleasure. 

The Grand Elector has no other action upon the Government 
than the appointment and dismissal of the Consuls. But he is 
surrounded with great splendour. He is the head of a body of 
magistrates known by the name of Conservators, and is appointed 
by them, as will be seen hereafter. 

These Conservators, a hundred in number, are chosen from the 
wealthiest classes of society. Each must have an income of 
100,000 francs {£\oo6) drawn from a landed estate. They have a 
guard and great honorary rights. 

Among the hundred Conservators, twenty places are to be kept 
vacant. They are intended as the means of withdrawing from the 
Tribunate and the Senate any individual who either by his ambi- 
tion or his talent might be dangerous to liberty, and likelv to over- 



sieves' scheme. 157 



throw the order of things. Those members of the two Chambers, 
who might thus by a kind of ostracism be called into the body of 
Conservators may refuse to join it, but they are allowed no other 
.alternative ; from that moment their legislative functions have 
ceased. 

The Grand Elector is appointed for life. He is balloted for by 
the Conservators. 

Six ballots are taken during the first year, independently of that 
one which will have brought about the first nomination. These 
six ballots are secret, and deposited in a closed urn. Every year 
the body of Conservators will hold a fresh ballot, and one of the 
former ballots will be annulled, so that there will never be more 
than six. These six ballots in constant existence serve for the 
nomination of a new Grand Elector in case of death, or in case he 
should be recalled to the rank of a simple Conservator, by the joint 
will of the body of Conservators. 

III. The Executive Authority. 

The Executive Authority is entrusted to the Ministers of the 
Interior and of the Exterior, dependent on the Consuls of the In- 
terior and of the Exterior. 

There are six Ministers of the Interior and four of the Exterior. 

For the Interior : Ministers of Justice, of Police, of Finance, of 
the Public Treasury, of Internal Administration and Public Works, 
and of Commerce. 

For the Exterior : Ministers of War, of the Navy, of Exterior 
Relations, and of the Colonies. Under the latter heading are 
comprised not only the Colonies properly so called, but conquered 
territories, and the Departments as a whole. Each Minister has a 
special delegate in each Department. 

IV. The Administrative Authority, 

The Administrative Authority comprises the administration of 
the Departments, the Communes, and the Municipalities. It 
regulates the distribution and the collection of the public taxes. 

V. The Judicial A uthority. 
The Tribunals and Courts of Justice .... 

• Such was the scheme presented by Sieyes to the Commission 
entrusted with the task of drawing up a new Constitution. It was 
easy to predict its fate. It is a metaphysical day-dream, a sort of 
machine ready wound up, which supposes in mankind an entire 



158 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

absence of passions and will. How can we conceive of a Grand 
Elector contcntinp^ himself with the simple part assigned to him, 
concerning: himself not at all in public administration, and of two 
Consuls who might be dismissed by a magistrate necessarily inca- 
pable of judging of their conduct and their intentions, since he was 
never to be allowed to know them ? The six urns containing the 
votes, of which a portion was each year to be annulled and 
renewed in order to avoid the introduction of the hereditary princi- 
ple or the intrigues of an election, were but a way of evading the 
difficulty without solving it, and had, moreover, the grave disad- 
vantage of being open to ridicule — and in France nothing can 
stand against ridicule. 

The practical impossibility of this scheme struck every one. 
Bonaparte, who was destined for the post of Grand Elector, was 
not the man to content himself with such a part. That of Consul 
would have suited him, no better. Never would he have consented 
to depend on the will or the caprice of another. He craved for 
real power, not its outward show ; he knew well that were 
authority once in his hands, the outward show would not long be 
wanting. 

So soon as the rejection of Sieyes' plan was decided upon, it 
became necessary to substitute another in its place, and the Consti- 
tution of the year VHI., as it was called, was adopted. But it 
was unfortunate that the Commissioners worked on the canvas of 
Sieyes. Their labours bore in every part the impress of the origi- 
nal design and of the influence exercised over them by the victor 
of the 1 8th Brumaire. A First Consul was substituted for the 
Grand Elector, a Senate for the Body of Conservators, and the 
worst part of the scheme, that which condemned the Legislative 
Body to absolute silence, was retained. From this fatal device 
may be dated the overthrow of those barriers which might have 
saved France from invasion by despotism. 

The shallowness of the French character on the one hand, and 
on the other the fear of again falling under the yoke of the Jaco- 
bins, from which the new ' ' social act' ' and the well-known char- 
acter of Bonaparte guaranteed the nation, caused this Constitu- 
tion, however imperfect and however dangerous to public liberty, 
to be adopted with joyful eagerness. It was debated, resolved on, 
and presented for the sanction of the people in less than six 
weeks, and in Nivosc, year VHI. (January 1800), all the new in- 
stitutions were at work. Bonaparte, First Consul, was residing 
with Lebrun, Third Consul, at the Tuileries ; and Cambaccres, 
Second Consul, was occupying a house on the Place du Carrousel. 

The establishment of the Constitution of year VHI. opened a 
new career to me. After having for two months filled the place of 



THE tRIBUNATE. I 59 



Secretary- General for War, I was appointed a member of the 
Tribunate, and was present at the first sitting of that body, which 
took place on the nth Nivose (January i). 

The Tribunate was the sole guarantee of public liberty, and it 
had escaped almost miraculously from the sweeping reduction of 
the representative system. It was the organised opposition, and the 
lawful adversary of the Government. But the more this opposition 
might, in time, become tutelary, the more did it need prudence 
and moderation to gain the public confidence. Now, at the time 
of the establishment of the Tribunate, the nation was weary of de- 
liberative assemblies, of tribunal discourses and discussions, and 
eager for a strong government. A powerful one was indeed 
necessary to hold in check the monarchical party, which had not 
been entirely destroyed by the i8th Fructidor, and the Jacobin 
party, which had revived a few months before under the auspices 
of the Riding-School Club, and those of Bernadotte and Jourdan. * 
Public opinion was then clearly in favour of the Government ; the 
Opposition would at first be looked upon as serving the one or the 
Other of these two parties, and not as a wholesome tempering of 
the governing power and its excesses. But the Tribunate, 
although it comprised many very enlightened and well-meaning 
men, had not been so composed that it could adopt that prudent 
and premeditated course of action which alone could lead to this 
desirable end. The greater number of the members had been 
taken from the Councils of the Ancients and of the Five Hundred, f 
and the remembrance of the day of Saint-Cloud, and of the injury 
sustained by the national representatives, was still fresh in their 
minds, and turned them naturally against the author of those in- 
sults. Among the new members (and I designate under that name 
those who, like myself, had not belonged to any Legislative 
Assembly) there was a desire for distinction and fame, and this led 
some of them astray ; nevertheless, moderate ideas generally pre- 
vailed, and wise men recognised the danger of begiaaning by a con- 
test with the Government, in which the public would have sided 
with the latter. They felt that time alone could strengthen the 
Tribunate, and that it was only by remaining silent for the present 
that they could one day acquire the right to speak, and to make 
themselves heard. 

* General Jourdan, as a member of the Council of the Five Hundred, 
had taken a very active part on the 13th Prairial, when three members of 
the Directory had been set aside, and he had also opposed the i8th 
Brumaire. He was among those members of the Council struck out on 
the 19th Brumaire. 

f dut of one hundred members of the Tribunal, no less than sixty- 
nine had belonged to one or the other of these two Councils. 



l6o MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

No efforts of the moderate party of the Tribunate could, how- 
ever, prevent the blunders which sip:nalised the opening of its 
political career. At the first sitting, Duveyricr made a speech in 
which he invited the Assembly to remember the locality in which 
it was sitting, * and reminded it that within those very walls the 
Revolution had first seen the light ; he besought it to draw from 
that recollection the energy requisite to oppose Tyranny, should 
it again raise its head. This invocation, which seemed to justify 
the excesses of 1789, and to forebode others, was ill-received, and 
excited suspicions as to the spirit which the Tribunate might 
develop ; and the attack, which was inconsiderate rather than 
dangerous, was speedily followed by a more serious one, by which 
the Government seemed to be much more alarmed. The Consuls 
had just sent up to the Tribunate the project of law for the regu- 
lation of the relations between them and the Legislative Body, with 
regard to the mode of presentation of projects of law, and the time 
to be accorded to the Tribunate for pronouncing its rejection or 
adoption of them. 

The Commissioners to whom the enquiry into this proposition 
had been entrusted, and of whom I was one, were in favour of its 
adoption, although we had perceived that the Government reser\'ed 
to itself certain advantages which tended to augment its own influ- 
ence. But, on the one hand, the objection to conferring on the 
Tribunate the monstrous privilege of paralysing every political 
measure, by allowing it to defer deliberation on projects of law at 
its pleasure, and on the other, the necessity of deciding as soon as 
possible a difficult point which ought to be regulated before any 
other, had prevailed with the Commissioners, and a favourable 
report was presented. 

A debate had begun on this report, when, in the sitting of 15th 
Nivose (January 5), Benjamin Constant made a speech, in which 
he pointed out all the defects of the project, did not spare the 
Governmei}t with whom it originated, and cast a portion of the 
blame upon its head. 

The next day Riouffe replied to Benjamin Constant, and went to 
the opposite extreme. His speech contained a pompous panegyric 
of the First Consul, couched in language so e.xagge rated that the 
orator was interrupted and recalled to the question. Benjamin 
Constant's attack and Riouffe' s clumsy defence greatly displeased 
the First Consul, and when I saw him, on business, a few days 
later, I found him very angr}'. I tried in vain to allay his irrita- 
tion by apologizing for Benjamin Constant, whose remarkable 
abilities, which might be so useful in public affairs and also to the 

♦ The Palais Royal, which then took the name of Palais du Tribunal. 



THE FIRST consul's ENCROACHMENTS. l6l 

Government, deserved consideration. He would not listen to me. 
' * My enemies, ' ' he repeated several times, * ' my enemies deserve 
nothing from me but steel." And in fact from that moment he 
took a dislike to the celebrated orator, whose fame was but 
increased by persecution, and was not reconciled with him until 
fifteen years later, on returning from Elba. But Riouffe's mishap 
did not injure him, and the First Consul, by appointing him to 
one of the best Prefectures in France, that of Dijon, proved that 
in the matter of praise, excess, even when clumsy, is never an un- 
pardonable offence in the eyes of a great man. 

Thus from the very beginning of the Constitution of year VIII. 
germs of dissension between the two powers which were intended 
to balance each other betrayed themselves. The Tribunate, by its 
premature attack on the Government, lost at the onset the favour 
of the public, who looked upon it only as the remnant of the 
former Legislative Assemblies, inheriting some of the same spirit 
which had so often misled those Assemblies, and threatening the 
continuation of a revolution of which every one was sick. The 
Government, on the contrary, gained in authority all that its op- 
ponent lost. The farther it diverged from democratic practices, 
the nearer it approached to those of a monarchy, so much the 
better did it please the people, and so much the greater was the 
influence it acquired. The First Consul, actuated by his secret 
views and his love of power, was perfectly ready to take advantage 
of the popular tendency. He diverged from Republican manners 
by small degrees, imperceptible at first, but becoming every day 
more marked. From the first, he had held himself apart from 
the other Consuls. Many of the acts of the Government bore his 
name only. Very soon the palace in which he dwelt assumed a 
different aspect. It had been open at first to all the great public 
officials ; but afterwards access was denied them ; formalities were 
required to obtain an audience ; a ceremonious etiquette was 
introduced ; and if there were any murmurs at this, the desire to 
gain access to a magistrate who was the source of all favour, and 
whose power increased daily, made people submit to it with a 
tolerably good grace. And then, no sooner had the men who lie 
in wait for the weaknesses of governments, to turn them to profit, 
perceived the First Consul's taste for show and the pleasures of 
vanity, than they hastened to applaud and encourage that taste. 
* ' Nothing, ' ' they told him, ' ' is more congenial to the tastes of 
the French, who always like the governing power to be sur- 
rounded with pomp and splendour. The Revolution did vio- 
lence to those tastes, but it has not eradicated them, and they 
will revive naturally on all sides." Bonaparte therefore found us 
ready to submit to these innovations ; we anticipated his wishes, 



l62 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and so soon as he desired to have a Court, courtiers were forth- 
coming. 

For my own part, I perceived, even at the commencement of 
the new order of things, that the scene was being shifted. I had 
hitherto been on those famiUar terms with the First Consul which 
were kept up by the remembrance of our former association in 
Italy. I3ut this state of things did not last long. I only saw 
Bonaparte, thenceforth, at long inter\'als, and the sort of famili- 
arity that had subsisted between us gradually subsided. 

It must not, however, be supposed that, absorbed in the delights 
which the flexibility of the French character so easily accorded to 
him, he neglected public business. His indefatigable activity was 
more than ever apparent. He obtained nearly every law he asked 
for, from the Legislative Body, and the most important one of all, 
that which abolished the administration of Departments, and sub- 
stituted the establishment of Prefectures, was adopted on the report 
of Dannou.* This law, by concentrating the administrative 
authority in the hands of Prefects and Sub-Prefects appointed by 
the Head of the Government, in reality destroyed the Republican 
system. Police, Finance, and Administration passed away from 
the delegates of the people, to agents appointed by the Govern- 
ment, and who might be dismissed at pleasure. The Government 
must henceforth be served in all things, by all who desired to retain 
brilliant or lucrative posts. So well has the institution of Prefec- 
tures served the reigning power that it has outlived all others and 
held its place in every Government that has subsisted since that 
time. 

The triumphs of the First Consul were, however, occasionally 
disturbed by difficulties at home and abroad, by rumours of con- 
spiracy and the fear of fresh outbreaks of war. The apprehension 
caused by the rumours of conspiracy was more affected than real ; 
yet it is djfiicult to believe that those rumours were entirely 
unfounded. Bemadotte and even Lucien Bonaparte were said to 
be at the head of the alleged conspiracy. The inordinate self-love 
of the former, who through Joseph Bonaparte's influence had been 
appointed Councillor of State, although he had openly proclaimed 
himself against the i8th Brumaire, rendered it not unlikely that he 
would yield to the persuasions of the Jacobins, M-ho always regard- 
ed him as their staunchcst supporter. He was not dangerous in 
himself, but he might become so during a disturbance, as the 
instrument of others. As for Lucien Bonaparte, who was Minister 
of the Interior, it is true that his immoral policy, the absence of 

* This law dates from 2Sth Pluviose, year VIII. (February 17, 1800). 
It was partly the work of Rocdercr. 



FOUCH^. 163 

public honesty in his administration, the shameful extortions and 
insatiable cupidity of his officials, did much injury to his brother's 
government, but is the story of his projects and his desire to put 
himself at the head of the malcontents credible ? At that time he 
had nothing more to wish for than what he had already obtained, 
and he greatly deceived himself if he imagined that his name alone 
would carry sufficient weight to enable him to play an isolated 
part. 

The rumours of conspiracy, although there was but slight 
foundation for them, were used as a pretext for various arbitrary 
measures. Several newspapers, whose too liberal tone was dis- 
pleasing the Government, were suppressed.* Exile and banish- 
ment were said to be destined for such men as Raisson, Vatar, and 
others, who during the Revolution had been remarkable for their 
opinions, and who were regarded as the leaders of the Jacobin 
party. They were ordered to leave Paris. Madame de Stael also 
was threatened. She was the patron of Benjamin Constant, who 
had declared himself so openly against the First Consul as to 
involve his friend in his disgrace. Fouche, at the head of the 
Police, seconded with marvellous zeal and sagacity the tendencies 
of the Chief of the Government, for whom he professed at that 
time indefatigable and boundless devotion ; and his former friends, 
although he privately protected them, were not apparendy spared 
more than the rest. An angry scene took place at this time (i8th 
Germinal) between Fouche and Lucien Bonaparte, in the presence 
of the First Consul. The quarrel began by an allusion to the 
alleged conspiracy, sharp words were exchanged, and Fouche went 
so far as to say : " I would arrest the Minister of the Interior him- 
self, if I knew that he was conspiring. ' ' In consequence of this 
altercation, which increased the First Consul's confidence in 
Fouche, the question of removing Lucien from the Ministry was 
mooted, and his dismissal was talked of publicly. But the services 
he had rendered on the 1 9th Brumaire were still too recent for this 
extreme step to be ventured on. The First Consul would have 
been thought ungrateful, and the matter was adjourned. Never- 
theless, the differences between the two brothers, which soon after- 
wards became manifest, date from that period, and ended in 
enmity which kept them long apart, and which was scarcely extin- 
guished even by the reverses which afterwards befell the Bonaparte 
family. 

It was at this epoch also that Bonaparte established that system 

* The newspapers suppressed on 18th Germinal (April 7), and re-estab- 
lished since then, were three in number — the " Journal des Hommes 
libres," the " Bien Informe," and the "Journal des Defenseurs de la 
Patrie." 



164 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of fusion among the various parties of which he availed himself so 
skilfully, and which became the foundation stone of his power. 
With the utmost sagacity he sought out men of talent, whom he 
employed wheresoever he found them. Kqually inimical to the 
partisans of the ancient dynasty, to the Jacobins, and even to 
those who afterwards bore the name of Liberals, he took all his 
agents indifferently from among those three classes. Prefects, 
judges, administrators, and financiers, were. all drawn from them. 
There was great discontent. The authors of, and actors in, the 
events of the 18th Brumaire, who thought they had an exclusive 
right to those appointments, felt injured at having to divide them 
with men whom they had beaten. It was therefore with extreme 
disgust that they saw ]\I. Dufrene, an avowed Royalist, entrusted 
with the Public Treasury, although his honesty and ability justi- 
fied the selection, Carnot placed at the head of the War Office, and 
Merlin (of Douai) appointed Assistant to the Government Commis- 
sioner in the Court of Appeal. The two first appointments were 
indeed approved by all impartial men ; but the last excited universal 
discontent. The appointment of the framer of " the law of the 
Suspected" to functions so high, and which might so greatly 
influence the honour and the fortunes, nay, even the lives of cid- 
zens, justly alarmed the whole community.* Other nominations, 
to less important posts, gave as little satisfaction, and, to use the 
expression of M. de Segur, it was hard to reconcile oneself to the 
Government's " sprinkling Jacobins all over the public service. " 
But the First Consul soared above these timid scruples, and the 
sequel has shown he was right, so long at least as Fortune was 
favourable to him. He thus smoothed down all the political 
asperities of France, rendered those whom he selected from each 
class '* suspect" by it, and so weakened them all. LasUy, by, as 
it were, casting into the same mould all the men whom he called 
to the conduct of affairs, he made them willing subordinates, 
vying with- each other in dcvutitm to himself, and ready to execute, 
without discussion, all he might require of them ; but at the same 
time he fitted them for the service of his own power only. When 
authority |)assed into other hands they followed it, and became the 
most docile instruments of the ruin of liim who had indeed ele- 
vated, but had then so trained them as to destroy every noble sen- 
timent 

* It would seem that gratitude had something to do with this appoint- 
ment. It was Merlin, a member of the Directory, who, on 30th Prairial, 
year VII., proposed the recall of lionaparie, then in Egypt. A decree 
sanctioning the proposition had even been passed, but it was not sent. 
The Bonaparte family contrived to procure a duplicate of this decree, and 
despatched it to Egypt, as I have related above. 



CHAPTER X. 

The peace negotiations with Austria are broken off, and a renewal of hos- 
tilities is decided upon — The First Consul endeavours to make the peo- 
ple believe in his attachment to the Constitution and to reassure the 
friends of Liberty — He leaves Paris, to take command of the Army — His 
victories — The stale of feeling in Paris after the departure of the First 
Consul — Rumours of changes to be made in the Constitution in favour 
of the power of the First Consul, and for the purpose of introducing the 
principle of hereditary succession — Discussion on the consequences of 
the possible death of the First Consul — The news of the victory of 
Marengo cuts this short, and throws Paris into transports of joy — Great 
position of the First Consul — His return to Paris — Negotiations for 
peace are opened with Austria — The dispositions of the belligerent 
parties — The real designs of the First Consul more and more clearly 
revealed — His solicitude to gain the affection of the army — Arbitrary 
condemnation of General Latour-Foissac — -Modification of laws con- 
cerning the " emigres'' — Manifestation of the sentiments of the First 
Consul on religious matters — Steps are taken to bring about an 
understanding with the Pope— The hereditary idea makes progress in 
the public mind — The palace of Saint-Cloud is placed at the disposal of 
the Government — Great influence of Cambaceres and Talleyrand over 
the First Consul — The Author is named Councillor of State. 

The establishment of the system adopted by the Government did 
not depend entirely on its adroitness or on oar weakness — fresh 
victories were necessary to restore to Bonaparte the eclat which had 
been dimmed rather than increased by the expedition to Egypt, 
and to the national glory, which only could blind it and conceal 
the fetters that were being forged for it to wear. War had become 
necessary, and its success was imperative. By means of war, good 
fortune and his ability would combine to establish the authority of 
the conqueror, and the last of our liberties might be buried under 
his laurels. 

Up to the present month of Germinal, year VIII. (April 1 800), 
negotiations for peace had been carried on with Austria, less in 
the hope of coming to a satisfactory conclusion, than with a view 
to gaining time for the preparation of another campaign. 

At the epoch to which I am now referring, these negotiations 
had been broken off, and war resolved upon. Berthier had left 
the ministry and joined the army assembling in the neighbourhood 
of Dijon, then modestly called the Reserve Army. Bonaparte 



l66 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

hesitated, or rather pretended to hesitate, about leaving Paris. In 
a conversation which I had with him on the 6th Germinal, he 
assured me he had no intention of going far from Paris, and that 
if he left the ca})ital for the moment, it would be merely to hold a 
review, after which he would return. " I don't mean," he said, 
" to act the General." I said all I could to confirm him in that 
resolution ; but I soon perceived it to be a feigned one, and that 
he had really determined upon an opposite course. The First 
Consul felt his own presence necessary to ensure the success of a 
difficult campaign, and, above all, he would not leave its laurels 
to be reaped by any other person. In this conversation, as well 
as in two other interviews that I had with him, on the 8th and 
29th Germinal respectively, he was emphatic in asserting his ad- 
herence to the new institutions, and said all he could to reassure 
me respecting the plans which he had disclosed to me in Italy, 
and which he now wished me to believe he had abandoned. And, 
in fact, he almost persuaded me. Besides, how could I imagine 
his ambition unsatisfied, with the power he had already attained, 
and which was guaranteed to him by a Constitution cut out, so 
to speak, by himself. 

** There are only three M'ays," he said, " of placing oneself at 
the head of a nation : by birth, by right of conquest, and by an 
avowed and recognised government. It is not to birth that I owe 
the place I occupy ; I would not wish to appear to owe it to con- 
quest ; a Constitution, only, can secure it to me ; and I am noth- 
ing if that Constitution which has given me my place be not main- 
tained. It can never be for my interest, then, that it should be 
altered, or that its course should not have all possible liberty. Let 
the Tribunate continue to sit, otherwise it will be thought that the 
Government dreads its permanency, or that its existence is imma- 
terial to the actual order of things : this belief would undermine 
the foundation of the Constitution that rules us, and which alone 
can maintain me in my position."* 

He still held these sentiments, or at least chose to renew the 
expression of them, in an interview with me which took place on 
the 26th Germinal. Our conversation turned particularly upon 
the selection to be made of members for the Tribunate, to replace 
those who had accepted prefectures. He seemed desirous that 
choice should be made of persons with oratorical pretensions rather 
than men of ordinary abilities, who would be merely useful in the 
discussion of laws, and committee work. Considering the annoy- 

* There had been some talk of adjourning the Tribunate after the ses- 
sion of the Legislative Body, but I, with many of my colleagues, had 
been of opinion that it ought to continue to exercise its functions, even 
during the vacations of the Legislative Body. 



BONAPARTE LEAVES PARIS. 1 6/ 

ance he had felt at the speeches of Duveyrier and Benjamin 
Constant from the very first sittings of the Tribunate, I was aston- 
ished to hear him express such an opinion, and I reminded him 
how, at the time, he and all right-thinking men had disapproved 
of the Tribunate's falling into the ways of preceding Legislative 
Assemblies, and letting itself be carried away by declamation. 
* * You are right, ' ' he replied, ' ' as regards ordinary times. But 
circumstances may arise, in which it is absolutely necessary, to 
save the respubliccB^ that the Tribunal should be enabled to display 
energy and vigour which can only be manifested by men who are 
in the habit of speaking from the Tribune, although those qualities 
themselves may be possessed by many of its members. Besides, ' ' 
added he gravely, " as a Republican, one ought to foresee every- 
thing ; the case, for instance, of my own death. ' ' This reflection, 
uttered either spontaneously, or with design, made a strong 
impression on me, and the dark uncertain future that would follow 
such an event struck me very forcibly. ' ' I have not dared, ' ' I 
replied, *' to contemplate for a moment such a situation, and 
cannot therefore tell what I should think it expedient to do in 
such a case, nor how we ought to act.'' "It is nevertheless 
necessary," said the First Consul, smiling, *' to think seriously 
about it" 

By talking in this style to all who approached him, he endeav- 
oured to reassure the numerous friends of liberty who had begun 
to grow alarmed, and also to create a sombre idea of the danger 
France would incur in the event of his death. It pleased him to 
attribute his success to his good fortune. The ideas of fatalism 
and predestination that he had introduced into his proclamations 
in Egypt, he now endeavoured to spread around him in France, 
and, believing in them himself, he wanted to make others believe 
in them. * ' Caesar, ' ' he said to some persons who were with him 
on the 9th Floreal (April 29), " was right to cite his good fortune, 
and to appear to believe in it. That is a means of acting on the 
imagination of others without offending anyone's self-love. " On 
the same day he said, speaking to Gallois and Volney, * ' Why 
should France fear my ambition ? I am but a Magistrate of the 
Republic. I merely act upon the imagination of the nation ; 
when that fails me, I shall be nothing, and another will succeed 
me." 

In the meantime the army collected under the walls of Dijon 
began to march, and advanced by the Rhone Valley. Every 
preparation was made for the campaign ; only the chief who was 
to lead it was wanting, and he did not tarry long. Bonaparte left 
Paris on the morning of the i6th Floreal (May 6). 

I will not follow him through this extraordinary campaign, 



l68 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



which for boldness and success surpasses all that imagination can 
picture, and ^vhich has been described and commented upon a 
hundred times. As I was not an eye-witness, and as I desire in 
these memoirs to speak only of what I have myself seen and lieard, 
I shall simjily relate what was taking place in Paris, while the most 
audacious uf militar}- enterprises was deciding our destinies. 

The departure of the First Consul, which produced a general 
sensation in Paris, was regarded in different lights, according to 
various opinions. His enemies — their number increased every 
day — hoped he might meet with reverses, and flattered themselves 
that defeat would wrest his power from him ; but they kept silence 
while awaiting the issue of the campaign. His partisans, who 
were confident of success, did not doubt but that victory would 
increase his authority, and thinking already to share it, or turn it 
to the profit of their ambition and their vanity, they openly 
announced a project for changing the Constitution in favour of 
more personal power, and introducing the Hereditary Principle. 
These rumours at first seemed to have been purposely spread from 
' mere malevolence, and I wrote of them in my notes of the 23d 
Floreal (May 13), only eight days after the departure of the First 
Consul for the army, as follows : 

" No one seems to doubt that the sole object of these rumours 
is to bring disfavour and cast ridicule on Bonaparte and his 
family ; but I, who know the man and his projects ; I, who know 
that no name would frighten him, attach more importance to 
them, and I think the question merits serious discussion in our 
Society.* On discussing it, we were led to the conclusion that, 
considering the actual state of public opinion, it would not be 
surprising were such an innovation attempted with success, and 
that if the idea had originated with Bonaparte — as I was inclined 
to believe — it would immediately be well received, and neither 
devisers nor makers of Constitutions, who would undertake to 
demonstrate -that it is compatible with a system of democratic 
government, would be wanting ; for it is marvellous, now-a-days, 
how we contrive to change things while still retaining their former 
names. 

" 1 think it well, therefore, for the guidance of my memory, to 
note down in this place the fundamental points of the plan as it 
has been expounded to me. In them there will be found a toler- 
ably e.xact imitation of the English svstem of government. They 
include : 



* This Society, which met on the 3d of each decade, was composed of 
the Senators Cabanis, Lenoir-Laroche, and Garat, and of the Tribunes 
Adet, Girardin B6ranger, Lebreton, Gallois, and myself. 



MORFONTAINE. 169 



" A First Magistrate, who is to retain the title of Consul, or 
will take another. This is of no importance. The dignity to be 
hereditary in his family. 

*' A Senate, or Upper Chamber, composed of the present Sena- 
tors, and in part oi some members of the minority of the nobles at 
the States- General. Their dignity to be likewise for life and he- 
reditary. 

*' A Legislative Body, or Chamber of Commons, in which the 
Tribunate and the existing Legislative Body will be merged, but 
whose members shall be elective and removable. 

" Such are the materials of the filth Constitution which awaits 
us. And who shall venture to say that all this will not take place ? 
Not I, for one. I have become credulous in the matter of Con- 
stitutions, and, in truth, the distance is less between that of to-day 
and the proposed change, than between the Government in exist- 
ence before the i8th Brumaire and that which succeeded it ?" 

It is, then, evident that the plans which have since been realised 
date much farther back than the epoch at which they were openly 
proclaimed ; and the first glimpses of those plans afforded to the 
public, far from being the result of malice, were, on the contrary, 
a skilful move in the game : the rumours were set afloat to accus- 
tom Republican ears in good time to the detested word " hered- 
ity." But, although the moment to establish this new system 
had not yet arrived, and in 1800 it might still be looked upon as 
purely speculative, there was connected with it another question 
far more pressing, and of the actual hour. This question had 
been raised by the First Consul himself, a few days before leaving 
Paris, and it occupied every mind. ' ' What is to be done in the 
event of Bonaparte' s death ? Who is to succeed him ?' ' 

The solution of this question could not be a matter of indiffer- 
ence to any party. Friends and enemies of Bonaparte, Republi- 
cans and Royalists, all were concerned in it, and all those who 
possessed any influence discussed it urgently. I myself did not 
abstain from the general topic. My association with Joseph 
Bonaparte had become more and more intimate. The gentleness 
of his nature, his kind heart, the value he placed upon true friend- 
ship, had gained him my affection at a moment when I little sus- 
pected the influence which that feeling was destined to exercise 
over my future life. I had left Paris on the 29th Floreal (May 
19), to pass a few days on the beautiful estate of Morfontaine, 
where Joseph Bonaparte then lived, and which he was occupied in 
improving. There our conversations turned most frequently on the 
political situation. Joseph had just been named Councillor of 
State, and I had imagined that the .principal object of this nomi- 
nation was to secure greater influence over the deliberations of that 



170 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

body to the First Consul. "You are mistaken," said Joseph; 
" my brother had no need to place me in the State Council for 
any sucii purpose ; the devotion o{ all its members to him is so 
thorough, that there is nothing more to be desired in that respect. 
But I am obliged to look to the future, and calculate on the pos- 
sible misfortune of the General's death. Since I am no longer 
allowed to be ' nobody,' since, on account of the name I bear, 
I may not live in the retirement which I should have greatly pre- 
ferred, I have thought it well to become 'somebody' in case so 
great a misfortune should befall us, and to secure beforehand that 
influence of which I and my family will have so much need." 

This led us to speak of the consequences that might ensue on 
the event in question : " My brother," continued Joseph Bona- 
parte, " thinks he ought not to be succeeded by a soldier. * It 
requires, as it is,' he says, ' very great tact to control the crowd of 
generals, full of impatience and overweening pride, who aspire to 
the brilliant post that I occupy. Where is the man, who, if I 
were gone, could keep down all these conflicting passions ? 
Mind, I tell you, if I die before the actual order of things has 
been consolidated by a two years' existence, you will have another 
Convention after my death.' 

This statement, while giving me much to think of, was but a 
prelude to the following, made to me during an interview, in 
which we entered more at length into this question. 

Girardin, my colleague in the Tribunate, was also at Morfon- 
taine, and a discussion on the subject which so deeply interested 
us, took place between him, Joseph Bonaparte and myself, on the 
nth Prairial (May 31). 

Joseph Bonaparte began by asking us whether we knew that a 
meeting of the partisans of Sieyes had taken place. 

On our reply in the negative, he gave us the following details : 

" The members of the two Legislative Commissions which suc- 
ceeded the national representation, broken up by the events of the 
1 8th and 19th Brumaire, reassembled a few days ago, with the 
exception of Boulay (of the Meurthe), Lucien Bonaparte, and 
several other members who were not summoned. The question 
for discussion was : What should be done if Bonaparte were to 
fall at the head of the army he commands, and which from the 
moment it crosses the Alps is in reality in the field .'' 

" In order to define the situation in which they would then be 
placed, the meeting assumed the event to have actually taken 
place, and the news to have just reached them. What course 
was to be taken .'* 

"All began by agreeing that the Constitution ought to be up- 
held ; and as the maintenance of the actual order of things gave 



CARNOT. 171 

to every one of them a position of prosperity such as they could 
not reasonably hope for from a change, they took that as the basis 
of the discussion. The ground was therefore narrowed to the 
choice of a successor to Bonaparte. 

** Several candidates were proposed in turn. Moreau was the 
first mentioned, but his name was not favourably received. He 
had, it is true, great military ability in his favour. At that 
moment he was victorious, and could perhaps as easily as Bona- 

• ^ parte command peace by his victories ; but what guarantee did he 

'"'^ offer to those who had composed the Convention and voted the 
death of the King ? He was a patriot of more than dubious 
principles and conduct : he was suspected of connivance with 

^v Pichegru on the 18th Brumaire ; he might, at the first shock of 

3 j events, betray the interests confided to him, treat with Foreign 
Powers, or even play the part of Monk, a sufficiently tempting 
rdle to a man of his character, and one which seemed to accord 

"r /'better than any other with the vacillation of opinion he had 
hitherto manifested. 

" Brune was next named ; but a multitude of objections of an 
opposite nature were raised against him. As an accomplice of 
the revolutionary excesses he could only rally round him the 
remains of a party which had become odious to the sounder sense 
of the nation. 

' ' Both one and the other were therefore set aside by motives 

. "which, though differing in origin, had the same cause ; the fear of 

a disadvantageous result for those who were discussing the matter. 

' ' Finally, Carnot was proposed, and it seems that every one was 

already so well disposed in his favour that the proposition was not 

'^ 'so much debated as supported by every argument that the meeting 
could adduce in his favour. Carnot, they said, had voted the 
death of the King ; in that vote the partisans of Sieyes possessed a 
sufficient safeguard for themselves. He had been deported on 
the 1 8th Fructidor ; therefore all the moderate party rallied round 
him. He enjoyed a great reputation for military capacity ; the 
army would be glad that he should be at the head of the Govern- 
ment. Moreau, whose friend he was, whom he had called the 
Fabius of France, would answer for the troops under his com- 

"'^tnand, and would counterbalance the wrath of the army of Italy 
and of the Bonapartists. Lastly, he had supported the' Jacobins 
after the 9th Thermidor, and made common cause with Barrere 
Collot, and Billaud-Varennes ; thus their partisans would attach 
themselves to him. So much reciprocal suitability, so many 
pledges given to all parties, placed Carnot in a unique position. 
His elevation to power would be a security for all, without being 
alarming to any. 



172 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



*• Echasseriaux,* in particular, supported this proposal. Others 
spoke at greater or less length, and finally the opinions of all, 
doubtless formed before the meeting, were brought into unanimity, 
It was agreed that another meeting should be held, and it was 
even proposed that Lucien Bonaparte should be invited to the 
second conference. They owed him great obligations ; he alone, 
in the new order of things, had upheld the Patriotic party ; it was 
he who by his influence had placed its members in the posts 
atLiched to the Ministry of the Interior, and who defended them 
daily against reiterated attacks. He was not like his brother 
Joseph, who under a feigned moderation, an apparent incapacity, 
hid a fiery soul and a boundless ambition. It seems, however, 
that the meeting broke up without any decision on this last point 
having been come to." 

Such was the account Joseph Bonaparte gave us, and on its 
conclusion he seemed to expect that we should express our opin- 
ions respecting it. Girardin and I were little prepared for such a 
confidence. As, however, we were agreed in principle, we jointly 
endeavoured to show Joseph Bonaparte how greatly that proposal, 
wliich, according to the account he had given us of the meeting, 
had been the most favourably received there, was opposed to his 
own interests ; especially as it had been made unknown to him, and 
apparently without any apprehension tliat his family might oppose 
it, or any idea that his consent was needful to ensure its success. 

** Carnot," we said, " was indeed the enemy of Sieves, and in 
that respect offered some advantage to the Bonapartes, but was it 
to be supposed that he would not conceal or even renounce that 
enmity from the moment that so brilliant an inheritance was in 
question ? was it, above all, to be believed, that, having attained 
such an elevation, Carnot would permit the inheritors of the name 
of Bonaparte, the only men whom he had cause to fear in the 
career open to him, to retain influence ? Moreover, the differ- 
ences which fexisted between Carnot and the Constitutional party 
were only individual ; one common principle, the fear of one 
comuKjn danger, united them, and the party of the Convention 
knew this perfectly well. The Committee of Public Safety was 
naturally reconstructing itself ; and while doing Carnot the justice 
to separate him from that Committee in so far as the crimes with 
which it was reproached under the rule of Robespierre were con- 
cerned, it would be going too far to believe that he was a total 
stranger to them. 

" His conduct in the affairs of Billaudand Barrere proved clearly 
that if he was not bloodthirsty like them, he was at least the apol- 

* A former member of the Council of Five Hundred, now a Tribune. 



A SUCCESSOR TO BONAPARTE. 1 73 

ogist of their actions and had tried to justify them by specious 
arguments. It might, therefore, be feared that if Carnot were in 
power, he would, perhaps, in spite of himself, bring back the men 
of the Convention with their principles, an act which would be 
fatal both to liberty and to the repose of France, just now begin- 
ning to breathe freely, relieved from the yoke she had borne too 
long.- 

Objections were indeed plentiful ; but while making them, we. 
knew not whom to propose. The great defect in the Constitution 
of year VIII. was that it made no provision for replacing the First 
Magistrates of the Republic, and confined itself to enacting that 
they should be chosen from the list of Notables of the nation, 
without indicating either how this list was to be drawn up, nor in 
what manner the election was to take place. In proportion as we 
became more and more strongly convinced that our governing in- 
stitutions offered no possible means of security against the conse- 
quences which would follow Bonaparte's death, the future of our 
country presented itself to our imagination in darker colours. 

Our first reflections led us to believe that this defect had been 
intentional, so designed that the necessity of remedying it must 
one day be recognised, but that great care would be taken not to 
remedy it until men's minds had been insensibly led to tolerate, 
first, Power for Life, a temporary means of putting aside the 
chances of election, and secondly. Hereditary Power, the simplest 
means of avoiding danger, and to which the first steps would in- 
fallibly lead. We perceived so clearly that this was the end tow- 
ards which we had travelled without being aware of it, that be- 
fore the conclusion of the interview, whose principal circum- 
stances I record in this place, we came to the conclusion that the 
choice of the successor to the First Consul must lie between 
Moreau, Carnot, and the brothers Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte. 

Now it was evident that the two last candidates could only be 
proposed on account of their name ; this therefore was to 
acknowledge a privileged family. From that acknowledgment to 
Hereditary Right was but a step. And yet, at what a moment 
were these novel ideas put forward ! The younger of the two 
brothers who were in a position to aspire to this great inheritance, 
had the greater force of character and political ability, and had 
already made himself a name in the Revolution, but he had 
inspired aversion by his immorality ; while the elder was of far 
superior character, but almost unknown, and had not as yet any 
hold on public favour. Yet we had to submit to the drawbacks of 
a system of government vicious in its very essence, and which, 
being neither a monarchy nor a republic, combined the faults of 
both, without possessing the decided advantages of either. 



174 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Thus all that remained to Girardin and me after our discussion, 
and the details given us by Joseph Bonaparte, was the certainty 
that, should the death of the First Consul occur while we were still 
en2:aged on these questions, no one could foresee the results of 
that event, and that it would be impossible to escape from the in- 
ternal divisions and misfortunes which it would occasion ; but if, 
on the contrary, Bonaparte returned victorious, and his life was 
prolonged, the Constitution would be remodelled, and, it was 
greatly to be feared, not in a sense favourable to liberty. 

We did not remain long in doubt. While in Paris all parties 
were engaged in calculations and projects respecting the entire or 
divided inheritance of Bonaparte, he was striding on from victory 
to victor}', and the news of the glorious batde of Marengo, which 
reached Paris on the 2d Messidor (June 20), put all these ideas 
to flight, and left in their place only a universal sentiment of 
astonishment and admiration. Never had the national pride been 
more flattered, never had the hope of national prosperity risen so 
high, and never was the nation more disposed to gratitude towards 
* the man from whom it then expected to receive the greatest of ail 
benefits, a lasting peace, the fruit of his victories. For two whole 
days Paris was drunk with joy. The illuminations were general 
and spontaneous. The Senate and the Tribunate held an ex- 
traordinary sitting to receive the messages sent to them from the 
Consuls officially announcing the great victor}^, and those messages 
were welcomed with shouts of applause. Political enmities and 
discords seemed to be extinguished, and were at least suspended. 
Every apprehension was allayed, and no one regretted any longer 
that so much power had been entrusted to a man who used it so 
nobly. So great, so unexpected a triumph justified everything. 

The victory of Marengo placed France in a more favourable posi- 
tion than she had occupied for a long time. Abroad, she had re- 
gained her military glory. The Austrian army had demanded and 
obtained an- armistice. Negotiations for a definitive peace were 
about to open, and if we did not abuse our victory by exaggerated 
pretensions, a Continental peace was certain. At home, Jacobin- 
ism was destroyed, the partisans of the ancient dynasty were over- 
thrown ; liberal ideas began to display themselves openly, and 
notwithstanding some attempts on the liberty of the press by 
Lucien Bonaparte, that tutelary guarantee of popular institutions 
was enabled to hold its own against attack. The public profes- 
sion of irreligion, and the affectation of a shocking cynicism had 
disappeared, but the priests, while they were free to exercise their 
functions, had not yet regained a dangerous influence. No sect 
had obtained the preference or received a salary from the State. 
The necessity for a stit)ng government had been felt, but we had 



BONAPARTE TRIUMPHANT. 1 75 

not as yet had to blush for a humihating servitude. Returning 
confidence had everywhere brought about a revival of credit. 
Military glory did not as yet weigh upon the citizens, because 
soldiers and officers were taken indifferently from all the ranks of 
society, and returned to them without effort. The army belonged 
to the country, and had to all appearance victoriously served it 
only ; it had not as yet become the property of the Chief of the 
State. Science, arts, and letters, began to flourish again, and 
needed only the establishment of peace to acquire fresh lustre. 
Public education was based on excellent principles, and, keeping 
clear of subjects of contention, confined itself to providing the 
country with enlightened and well-informed citizens. The insti- 
tution of the Polytechnic School had attained a high degree of 
perfection. Pupils formed by such men as Monge, Laplace, 
Lacroix, Fourcroy, and many other celebrated professors, were 
ready each year for the Artillery, the Engineers, or the Sappers 
and Miners ; and young savants, after a few years of instruction 
from their masters, took their places by their side as Professors in 
their turn. 

What then was wanting to confirm this prosperity and to afford 
Europe the spectacle and example of a great regenerated people, 
enjoying liberty without falling into license, triumphantly led by 
capable chiefs, but not becoming the slave of those chiefs : — what 
was wanting for this .? a Washington. If Bonaparte on his victo- 
rious return from the field of Marengo had taken that illustrious 
citizen as his model, what might he not have done for the happi- 
ness of France, for his own true glory, and even for the duration 
of his authority ! No resistance was opposed to him — he could 
do all he wished. The storm of the revolution had swept his way 
clear, and violently overthrown every obstacle, the ground was 
levelled and ready to sustain a solid edifice. All the evil was 
already done ; and now all that remained was to consign it to ob- 
livion, by the reparation of private misfortunes through the action 
of wise and humane laws. 

But instead of seconding this great impulse, the man on whom 
our destinies began to depend arrested it. He preferred to lead us 
back upon the traces of the Past, and, unhappily for France and 
for himself, he was but too successful, and too well served in that 
endeavour. 

The First Consul reached Paris on the night of the 12 th Mes- 
sidor (June 30), eighteen days after the battle of Marengo. The 
political bodies of the State, the magistrates, the administrators, in 
short, all that Paris contained of men distinguished by office or 
personal position, hastened to congratulate him, and the crowd 
filled even the vast apartments of the Tuileries. Adulation, praise, 



176 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and flattery of all sorts were rife ; never before in France had a 
conqueror enjoyed so great a triumph.* 

Each tried to outdo his fellow in exalting the man whom he had 
come to adulate, and in finding obsequious and emphatic expres- 
sion for the public gratitude ; so that the nation, whom these 
flatterers pretended to represent, seemed to be courting the yoke. 
Besides, however, the great admiration which so brilliant a victory 
inspired, it was intolerable that all this rapturous praise should be 
lavished on the Chief alone, without any mention being made of 
the army which had so gloriously seconded him. 

Amid the torrent of adulation, hardly a word was said of our 
grief for the blood which the victory had cost us, and for the loss 
of that brave soldier, General Desaix, called ihc fiisl Sulhj?i by the 
Arabs in Egypt, who had fallen on the field of Marengo. In the 
e^•ening fresh illuminations, more brilliant than before, testified to 
the public rejoicing. 

1 he First Consul profited very cleverly by the enthusiasm he 
had inspired, and used to the full, but wisely, the advantage which 
the suppleness and flexibility of the national character placed in his 
hand. In the midst of all these demonstrations of devotion to his 
person, he was perfectly well aware that the most urgent need of 
France was peace, and that he owed his power in a great measure 
to the belief that he alone could obtain that boon, and that he also 
desired it. He therefore seconded the public aspiration with a 
great appearance of zeal. Joseph Bonaparte, who was to preside 
over the negotiations, had set out for Milan immediately on receipt 
of the news of the first successes of the French army. He, how- 
ever, arrived too late. The march of events had been so rapid that 
he c<juld not be commissioned to treat for the armistice after the 
battle of Marengo. Nevertheless, he remained several days at 
IMilan after the departure of his brother, in expectation of some 
overtures frum Austria. The First Consul had written to the 
Emperor, reiiiinding him how moderate his conduct had been 
with respect to the House of Austria, during the preliminaries of 
Leoben and the peace of Campo-Formio. He proposed either to 
resume the conditions of the latter treaty, without negotiations, 
and to adopt them anew, or t(^ name a place of meeting where 
negotiations f(jr their modification might be entered into. In the 
event of the Emperor's declining both these proposals, the First 
Consul declared that he would be forced, in order to carry on the 
war, to give it another direction, and to continue it only with the 
view of extending the revolution to Cermany. Austria having 

* The reason is obvious ; the General might be praised without any risk 
of displeasing the Head of the State. 



BONAPARTE S AMBITION. 1 7/ 

deferred her reply to this overture, Joseph Bonaparte had left 
Milan, and returned to Paris on the 15th Messidor (July 4). 
Shortly after his return, he, with the Councillors of State Fleurieu 
and Roederer, received instructions to treat with the three Commis- 
sioners from the United States, who had just landed in France, for 
the negotiation of peace between the two nations. We also 
learned at this period that an armistice had been signed between 
General Moreau's army and that of General Kray, and that Count 
St. Julien had arrived in Paris, with powers from the Emperor to 
treat with the French Government. Joseph Bonaparte, who was 
at Morfontaine, was summoned to Paris to conduct the negotia- 
tions with the Count. 

Everything, in fact, seemed to wear a pacific aspect, and the 
hope of attaining to the desired end of so many struggles and so 
much bloodshed had restored general good-humour. But, for my 
own part, I remained only a very short time under a delusion ; I 
speedily perceived that the conclusion of peace would be again 
delayed. Count St. Julien had arrived in Paris, persuaded that 
peace was so absolutely required in the interests of the First Consul 
and for the maintenance of his authority, that there were no con- 
ditions to which the French Government would not accede in 
order to obtain it. His surprise was great to find the Government 
far otherwise disposed ; not only would Bonaparte in nowise 
modify the conditions of the treaty of Campo-Formio, but he was 
even more exacting. In short, judging from what Joseph Bona- 
parte said to me in the course of a conversation at Morfontaine on 
the 1 2 th Thermidor (July 31),! perceived that peace was not desired 
by the First Consul so strongly as was generally believed ; he was, 
on the contrary, anxious to persuade France that he desired, rather 
than in reality to conclude peace. His enterprising genius soared 
above the present moment. Faithful to the aims he had con- 
ceived in Italy, he believed war to be still necessary to him, and 
ever looking forward to the future, he did not regard himself as 
having reached the end of the career which the Revolution had 
opened up to him. ' ' You understand nothing about it, ' ' he said 
to his brother Joseph, * who was speaking to him of the necessity 
of concluding matters with the American Commissioners ; ' ' you 
understand nothing about it. In two years' time we shall be 
masters of the world. If the kings make peace, they are lost ; two 
years of prosperity to France will destroy their power ; and if they 
continue the war they are still more surely lost." And then, 
colouring his political prophecy with that tinge of superstition 
which he mingled with everything, he continued : " Nothing has 

* I quote the exact words repeated to me by Joseph Bonaparte. 



178 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

yet happened to me that I have not foreseen ; I alone am sur- 
prised at notliinp^ that I have accompHshed. Even so I can also 
divine the future, and even so 1 shall reach the end I propose to 
myself."* 

With dispositions such as these on either side, it was not sur- 
prisino^ that the negotiations had at first no result. The Count of 
St. Julien, having concluded nothing, left Paris towards the mid- 
dle of the month of Thermidor (the beginning of August) on his 
return to Vienna. But as Austria, who before entering seriously 
into negotiations, wished to try the chances of a campaign in 
Germany, was trying to gain time so as to recover from the reverses 
she had sustained ; and as on the other hand the First Consul 
wished to encourage the hope of peace which was so ardently de- 
sired by France ; the two Powers agreed to open a Congress at 
Luneville and to transfer the negotiations thither. Everything was 
adjourned until the opening of this Congress, which also had to 
be put off to the beginning of winter. 

While the First Consul thus cleverly averted the disgust which 
would have been created by a sudden renewal of hostilities, and 
gratified the national feelings by opening negotiations with the 
American Commissioners, whose progress, although slow, prom- 
ised a satisfactory issue, he was giving the Government and the 
Administration a new direction, which, notwithstanding his care- 
fulness to keep the public mind in a state of indecision, revealed 
his real intentions. Confident, through the enthusiasm he had 
inspired, and relieved by the death of Kleber, who was assassi- 
nated at Cairo on the 24th of June, 1800, f from the fear of any 

* These fatalistic notions seem to have been shared more or less by all 
the family. M. Charles Bonaparte, the father, died at Montpellier, in his 
thirty-seventh year, of a very long-standing chronic disease. Joseph 
lionaparte, who was with him in his last moments, often heard him, when 
partly delirious from pain, asking for his son Napoleon. " Where is 
he?" he exclaimed repeatedly. "Where is my son Napoleon? He 
whose sword will make kings tremble ! he who will change the face of 
Europe ! He would defend me from my enemies ; he would save my 
life !" Joseph Bonaparte, who told me this anecdote, added, " I am 
almost ashamed of what I say to you, and certainly I would say it to no 
one but yourself. But the thing is certain. There exists moreover an- 
other witness to this singular fact ; Fesch, my mother's brother. He, as 
well as I, was present at my father's deathbed, and can confirm what I 
have just told you." 

f The First Consul was at Morfontaine, where he was passing a few 
days in the month of Fructidor, when the news of this event reached him. 
It was another of Fortune's favors to him, and Joseph admitted that his 
brother so considered it. Klcbcr was the personal enemy of Bonaparte ; 
he could not forgive him for having deserted him in Egypt, and as he was 
highly esteemed in the army, he would have been, had he returned to 
France, a serious obstacle in the way of the First Consul. 



BONAPARTE'S POWER. 1 79 

formidable rival in the army,* he ventured farther than he had 
hitherto ventured. He appointed Chamberlains for himself, un- 
der the name of Prefects of the Palace, and four Ladies of Honour 
for his wife under a less ambitious designation ; thus making a 
marked distinction between himself and the other two Consuls. 
The etiquette of the Tuileries became every day more punctilious, 
and Republican manners gave place by degrees to those of a mon- 
archy. At the same time the First Consul took all possible pains 
to acquire the exclusive affection of the army, and to accustom it 
to look to him only as the rewarder of military services. The In- 
stitution of **arms of honour" was wonderfully well adapted to 
this end. As the First Consul conferred them without consulta- 
tion with his colleagues, and his signature alone appeared on the 
warrant, the soldiers soon came to look upon him as their only 
chief, and as the distributor of all the favours to which they could 
aspire. The conviction that the fortune of soldiers and officers 
depended solely on him, was the origin of that absolute devotion 
to him which the army displayed, a devotion of which he took 
every possible advantage. Nor did he omit to gratify the military 
by every kind of favour which tended to distinguish them from 
other citizens. The greatest honour was paid to the memory of 
General Desaix ; a public subscription, encouraged by Bonaparte, 
was opened to defray the cost of a monument, and was responded 
to as much from a desire to please him as from gratitude for the 
services of the deceased General. He also took pains to please 
the army, by causing public honours to be paid to the brave 
Latour-d'Auvergne, First Grenadier of France, who lost his life on 
the 9th Thermidor, year VHI. (July 28, 1800), at the battle of 
Neueburg. But the First Consul also arrogated to himself a more 
dangerous power, by assuming, together with the right of bestow- 
ing favour and honour on the soldiery, that of awarding blame and 
punishment, a terrible right, which should never be exercised ex- 
cept by a legal tribunal. On the 9th Thermidor, year VH. (July 
27, 1799), General Latour-Foissac had surrendered the stronghold 
of Mantua to the Austrians. Had this capitulation been rendered 
necessary by the condition of the citadel and the advance of the 
enemy ? This was a question which a military tribunal alone 
could decide. Bernadotte, at that time Minister, had already 
summoned a court-martial, and the inculpated General had pub- 

* Massena and Moreau, whose military reputation came next to Bona- 
parte's, were not in a position to dispute the sovereignty with him. The 
first was rejected by public opinion for well-known reasons ; the second, 
from weakness of character, let the moment slip when he might by assert- 
ing himself have overturned a power which afterwards was too firmly 
established for such an attempt. 



l80 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

lished a justificator)' statement. But the First Consul, instead of 
^vailing for the decision of the Council, took the initiative, and in 
a simple letter to the Minister of War pronounced sentence on the 
General without trial or judgment.* 

On the other hand, pcrseverinj^ in the system of fusion that he 
had adopted, he summoned to the most important functions of the 
State men of the most opposite opinions and. political conduct. 
Thus, on the same day, Barbc-Marbois, who had been banished 
on the i8th Fructidor, was called to the Council of State ; General 
jourdan, who having declared himself against the i8th Brumaire, 
had been excluded from the Council of the Five Hundred, was ap- 
pointed Minister Extraordinary in Piedmont, f and Bernier, a 
former member of the Convention, who had voted for the King's 
death, and was then a Councillor of State, was appointed Presi- 
dent of the Council of Prizes of War. In order to complete the 
political fusion, the laws relating to the emigres were modified, and 
the amnesty that had been granted to the Vendeans was extended 
to the neighbouring departments. Lastly, the First Consul being 
persuaded that much might be gained from the gratitude of the 
clergy, and that he might one day make them useful towards the 
ends he proposed to himself, took an early opportunity of proving 
that, far from being the enemy of religious feeling, he was disposed 
to encourage its revival in France. He wrote therefore to the 
Prefect of La Vendee to send him twelve of the inhabitants of that 
department, as he wished to have information respecting them, 
and if there were any priests who could form part of the deputation, 
to choose them in preference. " For," added he in this remark- 
able letter, " I love and esteem priests, who are good French- 
men, and who know how to defend their country against the 
eternal enemies of the French name, iJiose wicked heretics, the Eng- 
lish." \ This, the first manifestation of Bonaparte's sentiments in 
matters of religion, excited a lively interest. It was praised by 
some as a wise stroke of policy, and blamed by others, who at 
that time were called Ideologists. But neither insidious praise, 
nor the clamour of philosophy could stay the First Consul. 

A few days later (27th Thermidor) I heard from Joseph Bona- 
parte that his brother was engaged in contriving a reconciliation 
widi the Pope. Overtures in that direction had been made through 
]\Igr. Gardoqui, Auditor of the Rota, for Spain, and had been well 
received. It was hoped that they would end in an arrangement, 

* This letter is In the " Moniteur," of 6lh Thermidor. 

f General Jourdan on accepting the appointment macle a very noble 
speech. It may be found in the " Moniteur" of 12th Thermidor, vear 
VIII. 

X See this letter in the " Moniteur" of Sih Thermidor, year VIII. 



BONAPARTE'S DIFFICULTY. l8l 

in which a kind of mezzo termine agreeable to both parties, would 
be taken. Joseph Bonaparte told me at the same time that, in 
the event of dealings with Rome, he would be appointed to nego- 
tiate and to sign the treaty. "It is essential," the First Consul 
had said to him a few days previously, " it is essential for you to 
efface the recollection of what you have done against the Papacy, 
for you are looked upon as its destroyer. * And as you cannot 
have the troops for your followers, since you did not embrace a 
military career, and have not shared in their glory, it is important 
that you should obtain the support of a powerful party. The only 
one able to counterbalance the influence of the army is composed 
in France of the priests and the Catholics. Now you will certainly 
obtain this result by reconciling the French clergy with the Pope. ' ' 

To these various circumstances which afford some notion of the 
ideas then occupying the mind of the First Consul, and which he 
subsequently put into execution, I will add an anecdote relating to 
the same subject. I had passed the evening of the 3d Thermidor 
(July 22) at Bonaparte's house, where I had met the celebrated 
Laplace. A rather long conversation took place between us three, 
turning more on scientific subjects than on any other. In the 
midst of this, the First Consul, struck by some reply or some ob- 
jection of Laplace's, turned towards him and exclaimed : " But, 
citizen Laplace, you are an atheist. ' ' 

While the various impulses thus given to public opinion were 
keeping men's minds continually on the stretch, fresh rumours of 
a change in the Constitution arose, and although the First Consul, 
at a State dinner, which he gave at the Tuileries to celebrate the 
anniversary of the 14th of July, had proposed a toast to "The 
anniversary of the 14th of July, and to the French people our 
sovereign !" everything foreboded that this sovereignty of the peo- 
ple, the base of each succeeding constitution since 1789, was ap- 
proaching its end. In all his confidential intercourse with the 
members of the Senate and Tribunate, Bonaparte complained that 
the Constitution did not prescribe any mode of proceeding to the 
election of a successor to the First Consul. * * There is a lacune, ' ' 
he said to Cabanis on the 12 th Thermidor, *' in the actual social 
contract which ought to be filled up. If the repose of the State 
is to be secured, it is indispensable that there should always be a 
consul-elect. I am the object aimed at by all the Royalists and 
Jacobins ; every day my life is threatened, and the danger will be 
greater if I am obliged, on recommencing the war, to put myself 

* The First Consul is alluding here to events that took place in Rome 
on 6th Nivose, year VI. (December 26, 1797), at which time Joseph 
Bonaparte was Minister of the French Republic. 



l82 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

a£!:ain at the head of the army. What in that case would be the 
fate of France, and how can the evils which would be the inevita- 
ble result of such an event be averted ?" 

Twentv days later (ist Fructidor), while I was walking with him 
in the gardens of Malmaison, he spoke on the same subject, on 
the occasion of the law which was then before the Council of State 
for the regulation of the formation of the lists of eligibles for the 
various public functions, according to the Constitution of year 
VIII. The framing of this law presented great difficulties, and 
the strange device of the ** Notables," a remnant of Sieves' plan, 
appeared to have been introduced into our institutions, only to 
exhibit the insufficiency of all the methods which were proposed as 
substitutes for the hereditary principle. The First Consul, how- 
ever, seemed to be at that time against the hereditary principle, 
*' because," as he said to me, " he regarded it as impossible of 
establishment without also establishing an intermediate body par- 
ticipating in its advantages, that is, without the revival of a nobil- 
ity. Such a revival would offend too many opinions, recently 
formed, and still in their first fervour, for us to be able to attempt 
it." He wished therefore that for the present *' efforts should be 
restricted to framing the best law possible on the composition of 
the lists of notability. If the debate which was to take place at 
the Tribunate should prove its insufficiency, without substituting a 
more practicable scheme for it, the impossibility of forming these 
lists would be demonstrated. And so soon as this truth was 
recognised, it would seem allowable to have recourse to means 
foreign to the Constitution in order to supply the want. In that 
case such an innovation would be called for by public opinion in- 
stead of being opposed by it." 

This, as any one might have seen, was merely hovering about 
the difficulty, in order to bring the question constantly back to its 
real aim ; the demonstration of the necessity for the establishment 
of the hereditary principle. Therefore, in spite of the apparent 
caution of the First Consul and the scruples he affected, there was 
little hesitation in promoting what were believed to be his real 
wishes, and a new Constitution was sketched out, on the bases of 
heredity, as I have indicated them above only, in order to gain 
the suffrages of the other two Consuls, that prerogative was extend- 
ed to their families also. This was a piece of folly, for though the 
hereditary principle may be admitted in a deliberative body, such 
as a Chamber of Peers or a Senate, or in a body of nobles, because it 
transmits merely certain privileges and honorary rights ; it can only 
exist, as regards the executive power, in the person of one single 
magistrate, he who is at the head of the Government ; and it is 
for this reason that the heredity of the executive power of necessity 



BONAPARTE'S MISTAKES. 1 83 

constitutes monarchy. Lastly, the divorce of Bonaparte, and his 
marriage with one of several princesses who were named, was 
already spoken of. An infanta of Spain was at first proposed as a 
bride for the First Consul, but as he replied to Volney, who was 
jesting with him about that alliance, " If I were thinking of 
marrying a second time, I should not seek a wife in a house that 
is falling into ruin. ' ' This scheme was abandoned, and a German 
princess was mentioned. It was observed also that at this time the 
First Consul gathered together a picked corps, consisting of 
Grenadiers and Chasseurs (Light Infantry), to form the nucleus of 
a future guard ; that he had appointed Junot Commandant of 
Paris, and given the command of the Artillery to Marmont, two 
of his most devoted aides-de-camp. Some political intention was 
supposed to be hidden under these military measures, but I have 
ascertained this conjecture to be unfounded. His own personal 
safety was his only motive, and the plots which were successively 
laid against the life of the First Consul are sufficient proof that these 
precautions were not unnecessary. 

Moreover, even supposing that he desired to precipitate the 
changes which he subsequently effected, and which he was too 
wise to attempt before he had made his peace with the religious 
party, and gained them over by the re-establishment of the former 
relations between France and the Pope ; supposing this — he 
would have had no need of staunch and devoted troops in order 
to carry them out. The country was anxious to anticipate his sov- 
ereign power ; he was urged to grasp it. There was a universal 
infatuation ; no honours could be too great for the First Consul, 
no marks of public gratitude could be excessive. Shortly after his 
return to Paris, the Commune of St. Cloud petitioned the Tribu- 
nate that the palace, the gardens, and the domain of St. Cloud 
should be placed at the disposal of the First Consul. The Tribu- 
nate seemed inclined to grant this petition (which was believed to 
have been suggested), giving it however the character of a national 
reward by changing the name of the palace from St. Cloud to 
Marengo, after the example of that which had been done in England 
for Marlborough after the battle of Blenheim. But the First Con- 
sul, whom I saw the day after the petition had been laid before the 
Tribunate, was opposed to any concession which should be per- 
sonal to himself. " Not that I think," said he, " that this kind 
of recompense to the generals and magistrates of a great nation 
should not be introduced into France, but it seems to me that 
such a gift, which I should look upon as an honour from the 
nation, can only be offered me when I shall cease to exercise the 
functions with which I am now invested. And in truth," he add- 
ed, • ' of what use would the gift of St. Cloud be to me at this 



l84 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

moment, and how could I have the deed of gift drawn up, since it 

couKl only be effected by passing a law, and every proposition of 
a new law is attributed exclusively to me by the Constitution ? 
Therefore all that can be done is in a general way to place St. 
Cloud at the disposal of the Government." This took place 
shortly afterwards. But the petition and the sensation produced 
by it, and the manner in which ideas which were so completely 
alien to the Republican principles hitherto loudly professed were 
received, were sufficient indications of the unspoken tendencies of 
men's minds. Not only ?>//^/-tj/^^/ friends of the First Consul were 
impelling him towards the sovereign power (his true friends and 
those of France were very far from doing so), but his most danger- 
ous enemies, the partisans of the former dynasty, were also press- 
ing him in the same direction, for they were convinced that if 
monarchy were but established, they would only have to drive 
away the par\'enu monarch, or, if he could not be thus disposed 
of, to await his death, in order to give back the throne he had 
reared again to its former possessors. 

I'hus in the same way that ten years previously the impulse given 
to society carried it headlong towards the destruction of all our 
ancient institutions, and a universal demand for change and inno- 
vation prevailed in every quarter, so, in 1800, all those who exer- 
cised any influence over the nation tended to make it retrace its 
steps, and what had been of old was now held up as a model for 
that which ought to be. Nothing was good but the Past, and as 
a prelude to its restoration in the forms of government, ever}'- 
former custom was adopted that did not too openly offend against 
the habits which had been contracted during the course of the 
Revolution. 

Cambaceres and Talleyrand, two persons who began at this 
time to exercise a great ascendency over the First Consul, because 
they flattered his inclinations, now entered heartily into his plans, 
and smoothed the path which he desired to take. Cambaceres 
made himself answerable for the former members of the Legislative 
Assembly, and for the magistracy, which by favours and gifts of 
places in the Government and on the Bench, he trained to retro- 
gression towards the Past ; and if a few acceded unwillingly or 
even refused to be bribed, the greater number forsook without 
dilliculty the principles they had hitherto professed, for the sake of 
honour and wealth. Talleyrand undertook to bring the nobility 
to the feet of their new Master, and found his task less diOicult 
than did Cambaceres. Madame lionaparte's receptions were 
crowded with nobles and returned eniii^res. No favour offered by 
Bonaparte was refused, no employment was disdained, and these 
gentlemen seemed only to be waiting for the First Consul to 



FRANCE AND EUROPE. I 8$ 

ascend the throne in order to resume their own titles and their 
former functions at the Court of our kings. 

Seconded on both sides by this double influence of two such 
opposite parties; the First Consul maintained his own equilibrium 
between them, without allowing either to encroach upon the other 
for a moment. He advanced with increased confidence towards 
his aim ; yet he never neglected the public business, but worked 
at it with indefatigable ardour. No one had ever so assiduously 
endeavoured to establish the Administration on such a solid basis 
as that which he gave to it, and which is still the groundwork, not 
only of the Administration existing to this day in France, but also 
of those in other countries which have adopted his system. He 
enforced the strictest order in the management of the public funds, 
and if he was at first obliged to shut his eyes to the extortions of 
Talleyrand, Lucien Bonaparte, Bourrienne, and the rascally sub- 
ordinates who served under them, he was not unaware of their 
existence, he repressed them by degrees, and even punished them. 

Such was the state of France at the close of year VIU. (Septem- 
ber 1800). In the course of that eventful year, the nation had 
risen from her ruins and reappeared in all her glory on the stage 
of the world. Abroad, she was regarded with mingled fear and 
admiration. Europe already felt that her destiny would depend 
on that of France, and that the destiny of France hung on the 
extraordinary man who had placed himself at her head. This 
man, therefore, became the one sole object of every plot and every 
conspiracy. To beat France on the field of battle was no longer 
the question ; there were too many adverse chances, and the 
struggle was too formidable ; but the destruction of the man who 
ruled her would once more deliver her up to a state of anarchy 
which must complete her ruin. 

I had watched the course of events closely, and the consequences 
that I have just deduced from them were clear to my perception. 
The friendship and confidence of Joseph Bonaparte, my conversa- 
tions with the First Consul, who was still occasionally accessible 
to me on account of our former intimacy in Italy, had initiated 
me into certain secrets, and had enabled me to detect certain hid- 
den meanings unknown to others. Yet I had no place in the 
Government up to the end of year VIII. , and, as a Member of 
the Tribunate, I was opposed to, rather than associated with, its 
acts. 

My position was about to undergo a change. On the fifth 
complementary day of that year (September 22), I received a note 
from Cambaceres, asking me to call on him at eight o'clock in 
the evening. I went. He had been desired by the First Consul 
to inform me of his intention to summon me to the Council of 



1 86 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

State on the ist Vend6miaire, and to ask whether this appointment 
woukl meet my views. 

The new functions which were offered to me were more in ac- 
cordance with my tastes and habits than those I should have to 
reHnquish. I accepted with eagerness. 

P'ive other Councillors of State were appointed at the same time 
as I. General Gouvion-St.-Cyr to the War Section ; Portalis and 
Thi bandeau to the Section of Legislation ; Franc^ois de Nautes 
and Shee, like myself, to the Section of the Interior, 

The promotion of citizens chosen from such widely differing 
parties was dictated by the system of fusion to which the First 
Consul at that time adhered in all his appointments, with the pur- 
pose which I have already explained. 



CHAPTER XI. 

A Treaty of Peace with the United States is signed — Incident connected 
c-with the date of that Treaty — The active part taken by the First Consul 
•* in the deliberations of the Council of State — The proposed law on the 
formation of lists of Eligibles is abandoned — The Republican con- 
spiracy of Ceracchi and its consequences — Reform of the laws on Emi- 
gration — Letter from Louis XVIIL to the First Consul — Arrival of 
Count von Cobentzel to negotiate for peace — Rudeness of the First 
Consul to that Minister, who leaves Paris on his way to Lun^ville — 
Dissensions between the First Consul and his brother Lucien — Violent 
dispute between the latter and Fouche — Lucien is removed from the 
Ministry of the Interior and appointed Ambassador to Madrid — The 
Author is selected for a second Mission to Corsica — Opinions expressed 
by the First Consul during the debates of the Council of State. 

The ninth year of the Republic began auspiciously. The armis- 
tice with Austria had been prolonged for forty-five days ; peace 
with the Americans had been signed on the 4th Vendemiaire (Sep- 
tember 26, 1800) ; the Congress at Luneville was about to open ; 
the Russian Minister at Berlin had been directed to treat with our 
Minister, General Bournonville, and the Czar, Paul I. , had become 
infatuated with Bonaparte, of whom he spoke with the wildest en- 
thusiasm ; all these things contributed to strengthen the hope of 
a near and general peace. The fete at Morfontaine, in honour 
of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace with the United States, 
was consequently most brilliant and animated. I was present, as 
were also the American Commissioners, the Consuls, the Minis- 
ters, and a considerable number of Generals, Tribunes, and mem- 
bers of the Legislative Body. Among other persons of note who 
had received invitations was General La Fayette, and the compli- 
ment paid to that famous citizen was universally approved. 

An incident occurred connected with the conclusion of peace 
which will not, I think, be out of place in this narrative. 

The treaty had really been signed at Morfontaine, where the 
conferences had been held and where they terminated ; and Joseph 
Bonaparte greatly regretted that the Act should bear the date of 
Paris instead of that of Morfontaine. He was attached to the place, 
which would thus have acquired a kind of historical celebrity. 
He spoke of his disappointment to me, and as, after a few 
minutes' consideration, we came to the conclusion that there 



l88 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

would probably still be time to effect the desired alteration, I un- 
dertook to be the bearer of the proposal to lalleyrand. An 
express despatched by that jNIinister to Havre might easily arrive 
there before the embarkation of die American Commissioners, and 
by means of a letter from Mr. Murray, the United States Minister 
in Paris, who had negotiated the treaty, the change of date might 
be made on the copy which the}' were to take back with them. 

I saw Talleyrand on the 13th Vendemiaire (October 5) at 
Auteuil, and, at first, he seemed quite disposed to fall in with the 
plan ; but I afterwards had reason to believe that his acquiescence 
was not quite sincere. We agreed to meet on the following day, 
and I accompanied him to the Tuileries. He went in to see the 
First Consul, and I waited for him in a drawing-room. I had 
scarcely been there five minutes, when Bonaparte, opening the 
door of his private room himself, called me in. The conversation 
was animated, he said that his brother had missed his opportunity, 
and that opportunities when missed did not recur ; then he took 
a higher flight, and said that missed opportunities were the cause 
of great revolutions, and of the overthrow of empires ; that it 
would have been very easy to have had the thing done, as his 
brother wished it, at the time of signing the treaty, but that now 
he would never consent to the proposed proceeding. I tried in 
vain to alter his decision, and Talleyrand supported me, although 
feebly. The First Consul, however, took umbrage at the media- 
tion of his Minister in an affair which he might have arranged 
himself had he sincerely desired it, and, turning sharply to him, 
he said, " Why did you come and consult me about it.? You 
should have done it without asking, and afterwards I should have 
thought it quite right." Talleyrand stammered out that he had 
told him, because it was necessary to tell him everything, but that 
there were certain things that he might know without being sup- 
posed to know them, and this one was of the number. Notwith- 
standing all this fencing, I soon perceived there was nothing to be 
done, and I withdrew. Talleyrand was more than civil to me on 
our wa}' back, he tried very hard to persuade me that in the step 
I had just Uikcn the First Consul could only see a proof of my 
affection for his brother, and that, in reality, he must feel pleased 
at it. We parted, and I returned to Morfontaine. I have nar- 
rated this anecdote, not very interesting in itself, only because it was 
a revelation to me of a trait in the character of Bonaparte. From 
his own words I perceived the great importance which, according 
to the maxim of one of the sages of Greece,* he attached to know- 

* Pittacus ; his motto was x^^P'^^^ yvCiOi, occasion fvi nosce. The King of 
Prussia called Opportunity " the mother of great events." 



BONAPARTE'S ADMINISTRATIVE SAGACITY. 1 89 

ing how to seize Opportunity ; a doctrine that during the most 
brilhant period of his career, generally guided his conduct with 
great advantage. 

On returning t-o Paris, whither I was called by my new duties, 
I was assiduous in my attendance at the sittings of the Council of 
State. I was also present at various Councils of Administration, 
to which the First Consul summoned me, and which were some- 
times prolonged to a late hour at night. No branch of the gov- 
ernment was unfamiliar to him, and he entered into the minutest 
details with wonderful sagacity. 

The Council of State was particularly occupied at this time in 
framing a law for the formation of the lists of eligibles, who by the 
terms of the Constitution were to furnish the candidates for the 
various public offices, and even for the renewable consulships. 
But the deeper we plunged into this discussion, the less could we 
see our way. Roederer and I were jointly charged with the task, 
and we had contrived and framed a project of law ; but we were 
well aware that the difficulties of its execution would be serious. 
I read it aloud to the Council of State. It was printed, and each 
member studied it ; but, either I had not succeeded in expressing 
my own and my colleague's ideas clearly, or the executive details 
appeared impracticable, or — as I can readily believe — our diffi- 
culties were purposely multiplied so as to lead to the abandonment 
of a scheme which did not suit the views of the First Consul ; at 
any rate, it was ultimately given up. Although the plan was at 
first adopted, as Bonaparte had not given it his approval, it was 
sent back for examination to the Sections of the Interior and of 
Legislation, so that they might either amend our project or pro- 
pose another. But the subject was threadbare, time went by, and 
subsequent events caused the projected law to be lost sight of ; it 
perished still-born. 

The power of the First Consul was increasing through a con- 
course of circumstances produced by his own genius, and which 
he contrived to turn to the advantage of the nation, by the order 
that he introduced into every branch of the government, and to 
his own, by making himself the sole source of benefits or rewards. 
But his enemies were also increasing in number, and being more 
than ever persuaded that by striking down this one man they could 
overturn the Government, they were secretly sharpening the dag- 
gers with which they hoped to strike him. 

The extreme Republicans and the partisans of the former 
dynasty, united by a common interest, without maintaining any 
mutual relations, were hatching the same plots, and seemed only 
to be disputing who should strike the first blow. 

The Republicans did the deed. A few enthusiasts formed a 



190 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

plot to assassinate the First Consul at the Opera. The particulars 
of the conspiracy, which was discovered, and those of the trial and 
condemnation of its authors, are to be found in the writings of the 
period, and especially in a pamphlet entitled, " Proces instruit par 
le tribunal criminel contre Demerville, Ceracchi et autres accuses." 
I shall confine myself, therefore, to narrating some few details of 
the event which came to my knowledge in course of time. 

The conspirators, nine in number, desired, before putting their 
plan into execution, to add four to their association. They pro- 
posed to a retired soldier to join them, believing they could rely 
on him. He feigned consent, and introduced three other mal- 
contents who were but spies in the pay of the police, and the exe- 
cution of the plot was fixed for the 13th Vendemiaire (October 
10). The conspirators, armed with carbines, pistols and poniards, 
were to surround the Plrst Consul as he entered his carriage after 
the Opera ; to kill him, to set fire to the theatre, distribute in- 
numerable copies of a proclamation drawn up in the name of an 
Insurrectionary Committee, and accomplish another revolution in 
the Government. 

Bonaparte was informed of these details early in the day. He 
summoned the other two Consuls and held a conference with 
them. It was resolved, against their advice, that the First Consul 
should go to the Opera as he had originally intended.* On this 
the other two Consuls resolved to accompany him thither. The 
Guards were doubled, and during the performance, which passed 
off ver}' quietly, one of the principal actors in the plot, Ceracchi, 
a Roman by birth and a celebrated sculptor, was arrested, together 
with one or two other conspirators. 

Ceracchi confessed everything on being examined by the Minis- 
ter of Police. He admitted the conspiracy, and said that it was 
his intention to have assassinated Bonaparte, whom he abhorred 
as the oppressor of his country ; in short, his replies revealed an 
extraordinary state of excitement, and a fanaticism approaching to 
insanity. He named Barrere's Secretary as having distributed 
arms and money to the conspirators. Each of them had received a 
pair of pistols, a dagger, and twenty louis in gold ; and in fact, 
arms and gold were found, as Ceracchi had said, on those who were 
arrested. He added that he was not to strike the blow himself, 
but he was recognised as their chief by the conspirators, and he 
had placed himself above the First Consul's box to give the 
signal. He was perplexed at the non-appearance of the others, 
came down, and was arrested on the staircase. | 

* ' Les Horaces' was to be performed for the first time. 

f I had not been personally acquainted with Ceracchi during my resi- 



BARRfiRE. 191 

Police officers were despatched to Barrere's house to arrest his 
Secretary, but he was not there ; he had gone into the country two 
days before, and it was resolved, though unwillingly on the part 
of Bonaparte, that Barrere himself should be arrested. This de- 
cision was come to in consequence of Barrere's singular conduct 
on the preceding day. He had gone to Junot, to warn him that 
a plot was being hatched against the life of the First Consul, and 

,.jthat precautions should be taken ; but he had not explained him- 
self further. 

After the event, this half confidence was thought to be a clever 
way of sheltering himself from suspicion, if the plan did not suc- 
ceed, since he had not said enough to ensure its failure. It was 
believed, therefore, at first, that Barrere was well aware of the con- 
spiracy, but the arrest of his former secretary, named Demerville, 
of Joseph Arena,* and of Topius-Lebrun, f which took place a few 
days afterwards, dispelled every suspicion that had been entertained 
against Barrere, and he was immediately set at liberty. Many 
persons of note were compromised likewise, and in particular 
several Italian refugees, among them the Duke de Bonneili and 

3 the Prince de Santa-Croce. Madame Visconti, whose house was 
a place of meeting for all Italians, received, notwithstanding her 
intimate friendship with Berthier, an order to leave Paris. It had 
been remarked that on the day appointed for the execution of the 
conspiracy she had gone to the Opera, escorted by Salicetti,| who 
had excused himself on some trifling pretext from dining that even- 
ing with Joseph Bonaparte. Carnot' s resignation of the post of 
War Minister, which he sent in two days before the date on which 
the life of the First Consul was threatened, likewise gave rise to 
comments, which the well-known character of that General should 
have sufficed to prevent. But all these suspicions were dispelled 
by the light which was thrown on the conspiracy by the *' instruc- 
tion' ' in the case. § Only those who were really guilty were prose- 
cuted, and after prolonged proceedings, lasting over three months, 
their heads fell on the scaffold. 

dence in Italy, but I had often heard of him. His talent for sculpture was 
very remarkable. 

* He was a Corsican and a personal enemy of Bonaparte. I had met 
him in Corsica. He was a man of ability, of very active mind, and had 
much decision of character. 

f A painter, pupil of David. He had been one of the jury of the Rev- 
olutionary Tribunal under Robespierre. 

I Salicetti was very intimate with Joseph Arena. 

§ Bonaparte hesitated for some time before he gave orders for the 
drawing up of the instruction against the conspirators. He feared the 
publicity of the defence and even the confessions of the accused, who 
prided themselves on their attempt, and proclaimed themselves the aveng- 
ers of oppressed liberty. 



192 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The results of this conspiracy were, as always happens in similar 
cases, rather favourable tlian injurious to the authority of the First 
Consul, and they contributed to confirm his power. The Council 
of State went in a body to the Tuileries to express their sympathy 
with the head of the Government in the danger he had just 
escaped. The Tribunate followed their example, and anticipated 
the propositions that might be made to it concerning the precau- 
tions to be taken against a repetition of this attempt. It was, in 
fact, at this period that the functions of the Prefect of Police in 
Paris were extended beyond the limits of the capital, and to the 
Commune of St. Cloud in particular, and that the action of the 
police, who had given proofs of ability, fidelity, and activity on 
the occasion, acquired greater importance, and became one of the 
most powerful auxiliaries of the Government. It was at this period 
also that Fouche gained the entire confidence of the First Consul, 
and began to exercise an influence over him from which Bona- 
parte could never entirely free himself, notwithstanding the numer- 
ous proofs which he had of faithlessness and treachery. 

The plot of Ceracchi and his accomplices, who all belonged to 
the extreme revolutionary class, contributed to convince the First 
Consul that his greatest and most dangerous enemies were to be 
found in that party ; and that consequently he should arm him- 
self chiefly against the remaining Jacobins and Terrorists. The 
emigres and partisans of the former dynasty ceased to be formida- 
ble in his eyes, and he thought he should gain them entirely to 
himself by relaxing the rigour of the laws against emigration in 
their favour. With this view he proposed for discussion in the 
Council of State the celebrated decree of the 28th Vendemiaire, 
year IX. (October 20, 1800), whose effect was the reversal of all the 
former terrible legislation existing since 1793, ^^^^ ^^^ been the 
cause of so much individual wrong and suffering. The new de- 
crees, which met with no serious opposition in tlie debates of the 
Council of State, proved that the Government, while performing 
this act of justice from motives of moderation and equity, was en- 
tirely convinced that in throwing open the gates of France to the 
emigres, it was not Qpening them to enemies. Apart from the con- 
fidence inspired by gratitude on which he reckoned, nothing could 
be more adajjted to confirm the First Consul's views than a curi- 
ous circumstance which I shall now relate, and which, if true, as I 
have every reason to believe it was, must have decided Bonaparte's 
line of action towards the emigres. I wrote it down as follows, on 
the very day on which Girardin and I heard it from Joseph Bona- 
parte. 

One confidence liod led to another, and lastly Joseph Bona- 
parte revealed a very singular circumstance. *' About three 



COUNT VON COBENTZEL. I93 

months ago," said he, *' the First Consul received from the Pre- 
tender (Louis XVIII. ) a letter of four pages, written entirely in 
his own hand. It contains a kind of renunciation of the throne ; 
but at the same time calls upon Bonaparte to consider whether, 
since he has been so great a benefactor to France, it would not be 
consonant with his greatness, his generosity, nay even his 
humanity, to recall the true heir of this ancient monarchy to the 
sovereign power, by securing to him the position that would be- 
come vacant on the death of the present Head of the Government. 
The letter also contains warm praise of our First Magistrate, and 
states that commands have been laid on all Royalists dwelling on 
French soil, to remain perfectly quiescent, and neither to plan nor 
attempt anything against the existing Government. 

Our informant had seen this letter, but it was not in his posses- 
sion. I did not therefore see it myself ; but I can affirm that if 
this statement be untrue, the falsehood cannot be laid to the 
charge of Joseph Bonaparte. After the temporary disturbance 
caused by the conspiracy which had just failed, public business was 
resumed with more activity than ever. The sittings of the Council 
of State became increasingly interesting from the various discus- 
sions that took place on different branches of the Administration. 
Amid the general activity, I too found myself busier than I had 
hitherto been. The First Consul appointed me one of the Assist- 
ant Reporters of the Councillor of State charged with the National 
Domains, and in that capacity I was enabled to get justice done in 
the cases of several citizens who had been deprived of *their prop- 
erty by the misapplication of the emigration laws. Shortly after- 
wards, I and five of my colleagues were employed in making 
eliminations from the lists of emigres, in virtue of the decree of the 
28th Vendemiaire. 

The arrival of the Austrian Minister, Count von Cobentzel, at 
the Congress of Luneville was made known in the beginning of 
Brumaire (end of October), and added to the general satisfaction 
afforded by the recent acts of the Government. So soon as Joseph 
Bonaparte was informed that the Austrian negotiator was on his 
way, he set out to join him at Luneville. But he met him on the 
road, going to Paris, without having stopped at Luneville. The 
two Ministers entered the same carriage, and Joseph Bonaparte, 
retracing his steps, returned to Paris with Count von Cobentzel. 
They arrived on the 8th Brumaire (October 30). This friendly- 
proceeding and the confidence that seemed to be already estab- 
lished between the two negotiators were apparently good omens 
for the issue of the conference. But I was speedily undeceived 
by a few words from Joseph Bonaparte. Count von Cobentzel 
had come without any positive authorisation from his Court, and 



194 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

it was only the fact that M. de Lucchesini, the Russian Minister, 
had come direct to Paris Nvithout stof)ping at Luneville, that had 
induced him to come there also. And moreover, although he 
had been received with cordiality which excited ]\I. de Lucche- 
sini' s jealousy, he promptly repented of his journey to Paris, 
which had been undertaken in ignorance of the invasion of Tus- 
cany by the French troops. He learned the fact in Paris ; and 
his presence there became embarrassing in consequence. In 
reality affairs were not so advanced as it was hoped, and as the 
First Consul wished us to believe. Count von Cobentzel made a 
formal announcement that he had only powers to treat in common 
with England ; to this Joseph Bonaparte replied that he had none 
on his side except to treat separately, and that he must decline all 
communication with Sir Thomas Grenville, who had been desig- 
nated by the English. Government, unless a naval armistice were 
concluded, as a necessary preliminary to the admission of the 
English negotiator. The question was further complicated by the 
intervention of M. de Lucchesini, speaking for the Cabinet of St. 
Petersburg, which insisted strongly on the integral restoration of 
the King of Sardinia, It was feared that the resolution of Paul I. 
on this point would hinder the progress of the negotiations. 
Bonaparte having already disposed, so to speak, of Piedmont,* 
could not undo what had been so recently effected, and would 
only hold out some hope of an indemnity in Italy for the King of 
Sardinia. This was a difficult expedient, and one which must be 
impracticable, so long as the Cisalpine Republic, which had been 
restored after the victory of Marengo, should be in existence. 
Those, therefore, who were at all in the secrets of the Government 
foresaw a renewal of hostilities, and were convinced that the Lune- 
ville negotiations could make no progress until the issue of the 
campaign about to be opened should be decided in favour of either 
France or Austria. 

Count von Cobentzel did not prolong his stay in Paris beyond a 
few days. He set out for Luneville on the i8th Brumaire 
(November 4), and Joseph Bonaparte started on the same day for 
the same destination. This resolution was arrived at after a dis- 
cussion, held in Joseph Bonaparte's presence, between the First 
Consul and Count von Cobentzel, and during which the negotia- 
tion was nearly broken off. The principal difficulty had arisen 
from Count von Cobentzel' s formal refusal to treat without the 

* By a decree of the 30th Fructidor, year VIII. (Sept. 17, 1800), the 
First Consul had annexed all that portion of Piedmont which was situated 
beyond the Scsia to the Cisalpine Republic. He had not pronounced on 
the fate of the rest of the country, but it was evident that he would never 
consent to restore it to its former rulers. 



A REMARKABLE PAMPHLET. I95 

concurrence of England, while France, on the contrary, insisted 
on treating separately. The First Consul was very impatient dur- 
ing this interview. " If you have nothing more to say/' he ex- 
claimed, addr-essing Count von Cobentzel, "you may return as 
quickly as you came. ' ' 

It appeared, moreover, that the Count had more extended 
powers than he admitted, since at Luneville he consented to open 
negotiations without the concurrence of England. It is true, 
however, that they proceeded very slowly at first. 

On the evening of the day on which this interview had taken 
place I saw Madame Bonaparte. She, like myself, felt but little 
confidence in the success of the negotiations, and she told me 
that Count von Cobentzel had written to her, complaining of the 
manner in which he had been treated by the First Consul. What 
could she do in the matter ? 

While Bonaparte was assuming that haughty attitude towards 
the foreign Powers, which for a long time was tolerated, on 
account of his greatness and glory, by Kings who had become his 
flatterers, internal discussions in his family were leading up to the 
scandalous quarrels which subsequently took place between the 
brothers, and produced such disastrous results. 

A pamphlet published in the beginning of Brumaire, under the 
title of " Parallele entre Cesar, Cromwell, Monk et Bonaparte," 
and which was very widely circulated, had made a great sensation. 
It was not easy to detect the aim of the author at first ; in fact, it 
was only on carefully studying it to the end that its meaning be- 
came apparent, and the reader perceived that France was warned 
of the risk she was running by giving up the inheritance of Bona- 
parte to the Generals and the military. The writer did not, how- 
ever, point out the precise remedy for this evil, but it was evident 
that his principal object was to indicate one of the First Consul's 
brothers. The style, the affectation of the antitheses, and espe- 
cially the exclamation on page 14, " Where is he, the successor to 
Pericles ?" caused the authorship of this pamphlet to be attributed 
to Lucien Bonaparte.* 

Popular feeling was not yet sufficiently favourable to the views 
it put forth to receive it well. It attacked the military, whom it 
was the First Consul's interest to conciliate, and even supposing 

* In four days this pamphlet went through two editions. In the first 
were these words, page 16 : ** You may fall once more under the do- 
minion of foreigners, under the yoke of S . . . .," an abbreviation which 
was interpreted as meaning Sieyes. In the second edition the abbrevi- 
ation had disappeared, and was replaced by the words " Under the yoke of 
the military'' which gave rise to the belief that in the first, the phrase 
should have been read ** Under the yoke 0/ soldiers,'' 



196 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that in his heart he did not disHke that publication, since it tended 
to familiarise the people with certain words, which until recently 
would have greatly offended them, he yet thought it advisable to 
express dissatisfaction. " It was a work," he said to Roederer, 
** of which he himself had suggested the idea, but whose conclud- 
ing pages were written by a madman."* 

This circumstance, added to the universal complaints of Lucicn 
Bonaparte's administration, made the First Consul decide on re- 
moving his brother from the Ministry of the Interior, and sending 
him out of France. He was despatched to Spain as Ambassador 
Extraordinary under the pretext of important interests to be treated 
of with that Power. There was, however, nothing to justify the 
belief that the political relations between the two States were of 
sufficient gravity to require such a measure, and in fact Lucien's 
mission ser\-ed only to enable him to acquire immense wealth, 
which he wrung from the weakness and pusillanimity of the 
Queen of Spain and her favourite Don Manuel Godoy, to whom 
' he sold Peace. No one was deceived about the real motive for 
this measure. On the day that it became public (i6th Brumaire) 
I heard that it had been adopted in "consequence of an angry alter- 
cation between Lucien Bonaparte and Fouche, in the presence of 
the First Consul. Fouche reproached Lucien with his conduct, 
his extortions, his immoral way of life, his orgies with actresses, 
among others. Mademoiselle Mezerai. Lucien retaliated on 
Fouche with his revolutionary doings, the bloodshed of which he 
had been the cause, the tax he had imposed on the gaming tables, 
and the money he made by it. After thus mutually rendering 
justice to each other, they came to abuse, and the history of the 
pamphlet played a great part in the quarrel. The First Consul 
took no share in this scandalous scene, which occurred on the 
1 2th Brumaire (Nov. 3). During the whole of it he remained 
absolutely siient, and the antagonists were dismissed, ignorant 
which of the two had prevailed. But Fouche, well knowing he 
had gone too far in the game to allow his adversary the upper 
hand, by which he would be utterly ruined, resorted to a new 
expedient. He worked, or caused others to work, on General 
Moreau, who was on the point of taking the command of the 
armies of the Rhine and the Danube. He made him feel that 
on him, as a General equally illustrious by his victories and hon- 
ourable in his character, the task devolved of telling the whole 
truth to the First Consul, and inducing liini to sacrifice his 

* It is certain that Bonaparte frequently said, ** If I were to die quietly 
in my bed, with lime to make my will, I would advise the French nation 
not to choose a soldier for my successor." 



LUCIEN AND FOUCH:^. 1 9/ 

brother. Moreau consented to this step. He represented to 
Bonaparte the discontent of the army, his fear of being unable to 
cope with it, the bad effect that had been produced by a pubHca- 
tion in which the mihtary were openly insulted, and the prob- 
ability that the First Consul himself would be believed to give it a 
tacit approval, if he abstained from punishing the author. 

Immediately after this conference Lucien's departure was deter- 
mined on. He was succeeded at the Ministry of the Interior by 
Chaptal. Madame Bacciochi told me that she had used her best 
endeavours with her brother to persuade him to select me ; but 
this step, which was taken without my knowledge, resulted in 
nothing. The First Consul intended me at that time for a very 
different mission, one which I could not look upon as a favour, 
although it was bestowed on me as a mark of confidence. 

On the 2 2d Brumaire I was passing the evening at the First 
Consul's house. He took me aside, and after a long conversa- 
tion, he proposed that I should return to Corsica. His intention, 
he said, was to suspend the authority of the Constitution in that 
island, and to entrust me with the government during its suspen- 
sion. No mission could be less agreeable to me, and yet it was 
not in my power to decline it. I ventured to raise some objec- 
tions on the score of my insufficiency to confront the difficulties 
of the task, but they were not admitted, and I perceived that I 
should not escape from my destination unless some unexpected 
event, which might alter the decision of the First Consul, should 
occur. This hope was not realised. 

Meanwhile the conference had been opened at Luneville, and 
dragged slowly along, making no real progress. Girardin, who 
had been on a visit for some days with Joseph Bonaparte, returned 
to Paris at the end of February, and from what he told us we lost 
all hope of peace. Every preparation was therefore made for war ; 
there was even some question of Bonaparte's departure for the 
German Army. But he soon abandoned this intention, and 
although General Moreau, who had repented of his share in the 
1 8th Brumaire, was on the coldest terms with the First Consul, it 
was on him that the choice of the Government fell. 

Public opinion had anticipated that choice. In the midst of 
this state of expectation and suspense the Session of the Legislative 
Body was about to open. * The Council of State was actively 
employed in the preparation of the laws that were to be presented 
in the course of the Session, and as the First Consul was always 
present at its sittings, the debates were rendered highly interesting, 
because of the share he bore in them, and the opinions which he 

* The opening was fixed for the ist Friraaire (Nov. 22). 



[98 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DK MELITO. 

put fonvard. I will mention some of these, which struck me par- 
ticularly, either by their singularity or by their disclosure of his 
secret views. 

In the sitting of the 27th Brumaire (Nov. 18) the reports of the 
\*arious Ministers on the state of their department were given in. 
These reports were to serve as a basis to the exposition of the 
general state of the Republic, which the Government intended to 
have read on the approaching opening of the Legislative Session.* 
The Minister of the Navy had inserted in his report a commenda- 
tion of the conduct of the inhabitants of the He de France 
(Mauritius), and of the He de la Reunion (Bourbon), who, amid 
so many political storms, had remained faithful to the metropolis. 
In concluding his panegyric, he added that it was a duty to 
indemnify the inhabitants of these islands for the reproaches which 
the " prejudices" of the former Government (the Directory) had 
often caused to be addressed to them. | The word " prejudices" 
gave offence to Truguet. I He rose to speak, not only in defence 
of the Executive Directory, which he said had governed our colo- 
nies in a truly Republican spirit, but in censure of the inhabitants 
of the two islands, who, he asserted, deserved no praise ; and he 
declared himself plainly for the suppression of the paragraph. 
Barbe-Marbois § warmly supported it, and maintained that by re- 
fusing admittance to the Commissioners who had been sent to 
them by the preceding Government, the inhabitants of the Isles of 
France and of Reunion had simply preserved themselves from the 
misfortune which had fallen upon the rest of our colonies. Tru- 
guet replied with some heat, and the discussion was degenerating 
into personalities when the First Consul began to speak. 

He highly praised the conduct of the inhabitants ; he protested 
that, for his part, he thought nothing more absurd than a system 
of general philanthropy, which, under pretext of bestowing liberty 
on a class of men of a different colour from ourselves, had in fact 
made them masters of the small number of whites against whom, 
it was clear, they would take up arms on receiving so fatal a gift. 
He said that between the sad alternative of being slaves or owning 
slaves, there could be no hesitation, and that it must always be 

* This exposition, very well drawn up by Consul Lebrun, was published 
in the " Moniteur" of the 2d Frimaire, year IX. 

f The inhabitants of ibe Isles of France and Bourbon had refused to 
receive the Commissioners sent them by the Directory, and also refused 
to adopt the legislation which gave freedom to the negroes. The two 
colonies were thenceforth regarded as in a state of counter-revolution. 

I Admiral Truguet, at that time a Councillor of State, one of the most 
violent demagogues of the Revolution. 

^ A Councillor of State, very much devoted to the First Consul, but 
with a strong leaning towards Royalism. 



BONAPARTE'S SPEECH. I99 

better to be the masters. He quoted the army of the East ; he 
certainly knew of no troops more loyal than they, but if they were 
asked to-morrow to free the slaves who inhabited the country they 
now occupied, they would begin by hanging those who brought 
them such a proposition, and they would do well. 

He was not acquainted, he continued, with the slaves of 
America and the Indies, but he had seen those of Egypt, of the 
Desert of Darfour, of the bank of the Euphrates, and of the Red 
Sea, and among them all he had seen but brute beasts whose heads 
were cut off at a sign from the Pacha or the police-officer, and 
that he himself had felt the indispensable necessity of retaining as 
a measure of police a custom from which he had at first revolted. 
He ended his discourse with general reflections on Revolutions 
and on the danger of taking the various epochs which have marked 
them as a stand-point, instead of taking the dominant events 
which were consented to by all. " Think you," he said, address- 
ing himself to the whole Council, " think you that the i8th Fruc- 
tidor, the i8th Brumaire, even the loth August were quite in 
order, and obtained the consent of all men ; that you wish to place 
the Institutions to which those days gave birth, above other insti- 
tutions which have been consecrated by time and custom ? We 
have finished the Romance of the Revolution, we must now begin 
its History, only seeking for what is real and practicable in the 
application of its principles, and not what is speculative and hypo- 
thetical. To follow any other course at the present day would 
be to philosophize and not to govern. ' ' 

Circumstances which occurred shortly afterwards gave Bonaparte 
further opportunities of expressing noteworthy opinions. On the 
whole, the Legislative Body and the Tribunate had been actuated 
since the opening of the Session by a hostile disposition towards 
the Government, and had taken every opportunity of displaying 
it. The Tribunate especially was punctiliously severe upon the 
slightest errors in the projects of law, and in the debates that were 
held in the presence of the Legislative Body its orators often had 
the advantage over those of the Council of State. The Govern- 
ment was even obliged to withdraw some of its projects ; among 
others the proposed laws concerning the Magistrates and the 
Municipal Police. In the sitting of the Council on the 14th 
Frimaire (December 5) the First Consul complained of the negli- 
gence with which those projects had been drawn up. He said it 
was incredible that errors so grave as those which the documents 
in question contained should have escaped the notice of the Mem- 
bers of the Section of Legislation and the sagacity of the thirty 
Councillors of State, and that for his part he would not have re- 
mained a member of the Section of Legislation, after such a fault. 



200 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTOT. 

Then turning towards Regnault dc St. -Jean-d'Angely, he reproach- 
ed liim with his weak defence of a law on the preceding day. 
*' You aihnitted," said he, " that this law was imperfect. That 
is an admission you must never make. You invoked the union 
of powers, you preached the doctrine of reconciliation and of 
good-will. Miserable means ! especially in circumstances so 
trivial. An orator is always beaten, when he thinks himself 
obliged to have recourse to such feeble expedients as these." 

'* Moreover," he continued, " the disposition of the Tribu- 
nate, and of the Legislative Body, is evident. These are bodies 
who, being uncertain of what they really are, act according to the 
natural tendency of governing bodies, to assert their importance 
and make people talk of them. They are the great nobles, the 
blue-ribbon-wearers of the Revolution of 1793; they cannot for- 
give a state of things which has taken from them that power, and 
those honours which they are always regretting. Public opinion 
must pronounce between them and us. If it ever decides for 
them, we could do nothing, and must renounce our rule. But if 
this same public recognises that the Government is also the repre- 
sentadve of the people, it it sees that the struggle now commenc- 
ing is the result only of wounded vanity, or of ill-effaced regrets 
and recollections, then it is they who will cease to be anything. 

" From all this," continued the First Consul, " it follows that 
our line must be to make as few laws as possible, and to do with- 
out all that are not indispensable. For in the present state of feel- 
ing I see nothing that can reasonably be proposed with a certainty 
of success. \Ve must confine ourselves to the law on the Budget, 
and be silent respecting all the rest. Some day perhaps, the peo- 
ple, who are represented by us as well as by the Legislative Body 
and the Tribunate, will perceive that it is impossible to rule a State 
when this diversity exists between the principal governing bodies, 
and especially when the two authorities that vote the laws insist 
that none but perfect and irreproachable laws shall be presented to 
them ; which is a vain dream, quite impossible to realise. " 

Two days after this sitting, at the conclusion of an audience 
given to the Ambassadors,* he detained the Members of the Council 
of State, and returning to the same subject, expressed similar 
ideas. He made the additional remark that the Tribunate lost 
much of the advantage conferred on it by the Constitution by 
regarding itself as instituted merely to oppose the Government, 
antl not to advise with it ; thus posing as the natural enemy of the 
Government, instead of an integral part of it, and, as it were, its 

* For some time past ihcse audiences had been given with great cere- 
mony ; the Senate and the State Council being present at them. 



A THIRD SPEECH. 20I 



mouthpiece, for the tribune is the principal and easiest mode of 
addressing the pubHc, and leading public opinion in the desired 
direction for the preservation of the existing order of things. ' ' It 
is impossible," continued he, " that there should be any likeness 
between the present order, and that which existed under the Con- 
stituent Assembly. The new power that was then arising had to 
struggle with a power that was crumbling, and which marked re- 
gretfully its own daily diminution. To-day, on the contrary, it is 
a dethroned power, and one without strength of its own, that 
would attempt to act against a vigorous power able to dispense 
with its help. We have sufficient laws to govern the Republic for 
a long time yet, without having recourse to the Legislative Body, 
and we can do without it until the time when it will have been 
sifted by the renewals which the Senate has to make in it occasion- 
ally, dating from the present year. What will be the consequence, 
moreover, of the inaction in which we shall leave it ? For another 
year, it will be said that the Government intends to abolish the 
Tribunate, an intention which it has not, and cannot have. But 
although such rumours may bring discredit on that Body and 
deprive it of some consideration, which is not desirable, it is better 
to run the risk of this than to have to fight the English, the Aus- 
trians, the Russians, the Legislature, and the Tribunate at the 
same time. These are too many enemies for the Government, 
and it must endeavour to lessen their number." 

He spoke next of the excitement that had been caused by a re- 
cent occurrence. The Constitutional Bishop of Morbihan had 
been murdered by fanatics between Quimper and Morlaix, in the 
month of Brumaire, and this murder furnished a text for declama- 
tion and invective against the restored emigres, the clergy, and 
consequently against the Government, which had encouraged the 
return of the first and the pretensions of the second. A motion 
was already prepared by the Tribunate, which was to be read by 
Boujoux, one of its members, containing a hostile criticism of the 
Government, and openly blaming its action and its policy. This 
motion was to have been made some days before, on the 9th 
Frimaire, and the fear of being premature and imprudent had 
been the sole cause of the delay in reading it. 

After informing us of these particulars, the First Consul con- 
tinued : * ' They want me, in order to avenge the assassination of 
a priest, to proscribe a whole class of society, to commence a 
course of severe and revolutionary measures. I will not do so ; I 
only wish for law, which ought to be sufficient for the repression 
and punishment of every crime. My own life was attempted, but 
it never occurred to me, nor was I asked, to proscribe all the 
Jacobins among whom the crime had been plotted. I left its 



202 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

punishment to the ordinary tribunals ; and I shall do the same 
\vith the assassins of Andrein, with this difference, that they shall 
be prosecuted with much greater severity than those who attacked 
myself." I shall bring these quotations to a close here, although 
at that time I took note of many other things. 1 have said enough 
to explain the principles on which the First Consul acted in the 
management of public affairs. If we examine them closely, we 
must give him credit for great skill in the art of dealing with men, 
and profound sagacity in the conduct of public business. We also 
see that he professed maxims of Government which might be 
adopted with advantage by princes at the head of empires, and 
some of which, those for instance relating to the murder of 
Andrein, are excellent. It would have been well had he never 
deviated from his own maxims. 



J 



1 



CHAPTER XII. 

Moreaa gains a victory at Hohenlinden over the Austrians — Celebration 
of that victory in Paris — The Author prepares for his journey lo 
Corsica, but his departure is deferred in consequence of the attempt of 
tiie 3d Nivose — Details of that event — Its immediate result — Wrath of 
the First Consul with the Terrorists — Extra-legal measures proposed 
against that faction, by means of unconstitutional powers conferred on 
the Senate — Extraordinary sitting of the Council of State — Reports by 
the Police — Debate, and decrees of the Consuls now converted into a 
Senatus-Consultum — The Police prove that the authors of the attempt of 
the 3d Nivose belong to the Royalist party, and arrest the real crim- 
inals — Successful issue of the peace negotiations at Lun^ville — The 
Author sets out on his journey, having received his instructions from 
the First Consul — Disorganized state of the south of France — Admiral 
Ganteaume and his squadron — The Author leaves Toulon in the war- 
sluop Hirondelle and lands at Calvi. 

While the Government was endeavouring to parry the blows 
aimed at it by the Tribunate, and to prepare for the coming strug- 
gle, Victory, still faithful to French arms, was about to dispel 
some of the difficulties with which its course was beset. Hostili- 
ties had begun ; the army of Germany had just opened the winter 
campaign, and on the nth Frimaire (September 2) Moreau gained 
a victory, as brilliant as it was complete, over the Austrians at 
Hohenlinden in Bavaria. Thus the same spot which had wit- 
nessed the signing of the prorogation of the armistice at the close 
of year VIII. now gave its name to a memorable battle, which had 
most important results. 

Notwithstanding the rivalry between the two great Generals, 
which was increased by this victory, the First Consul lavished un- 
stinted praise on Moreau. He sent him, in the name of the 
Government, a pair of splendid pistols set with diamonds ; salvos 
of artillery in Paris and the fortified towns, especially Calais, 
announced to England the triumph of our arms ; messages were 
sent with great solemnity to the Legislative Body and to the Trib- 
unate. Our hopes of peace revived, the Legislative authorities 
appeared less adverse to it, and the general aspect of things was 
more favourable. During this peaceful interval the First Consul, 
reverting to his plan of sending me to Corsica, commanded me to 
present to the Legislative Body, the law which suspended the 



204 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

authority of tlie constitutional government in that island. Some 
difficulties were raised in the Tribunate, but these were readily dis- 
posed of, and the law adopted on the 23d Frimaire (December 
14) by a majority of two hundred and sixty against three. I then 
read to the Council of State the report of the proposed decree, 
which was to define the extraordinary powers that I was to exercise 
in virtue of that law. It was adopted, with a few unimportant 
modifications, and 1 prepared to start. My departure was, how- 
ever, delayed by a very serious event. 

On the 3d Nivose (December 24) Haydn's Oratorio, *' The 
Creation," was given at the Opera, and attracted a large audience. 
The First Consul went to the Opera House at about half-past 
eight. His carriage followed that of Madame Bonaparte, and was 
attended by his ordinary guard. At the turn into the Rue Saint- 
Nicaise, the explosion, of a barrel of gunpowder was heard, the 
windows of the neighbouring houses were smashed, some walls 
came toppling down, and several of the passers-by were killed or 
severely injured. 

Such was the story told me by Talleyrand and Regnault, whom 
I met in the lobby of the Opera House. Other details, more or 
less exaggerated, were added. It was, however, asserted from the 
very first that this explosion was not the result of accident, but the 
execution of a plot against the life of the First Consul. The barrel 
contained, besides a large quantity of compressed gunpowder, 
balls and bits of iron of all kinds, and was placed on a cart which 
barred the way of Bonaparte's carriage. It had been fired by a 
train of powder. A miscalculation of the time only prevented this 
infernal machine from accomplishing its purpose ; the First Consul 
had already passed by when the explosion took place. Bonaparte 
remained perfectly cool. On reaching the Opera he advanced to 
the front of his box, and, as the great danger he had incurred was 
as yet unk-nown to the audience, his presence excited only the 
usual amount of attention. But when the news spread, it caused 
the greatest sensation. All the disasters which might possibly en- 
sue on the inopportune death of the First Consul were pictured to 
men's minds, and it may safely be said that never before was his 
life so precious, and never had he inspired so much interest. The 
Opera ended quietly, and many persons left the house in igno- 
rance of the attempt on Bonaparte's life. 

The following morning I went to the Tuileries, where I found, 
as I had expected, a great number of persons. The First Consul 
seemed to be convinced that the plot was the work of revolution- 
aries, and that this party had chosen for its instruments the assas- 
sins of September 1792, who were living at liberty in Paris, and 
even found safety in the protection of the police. It was in vain 



THE THIRD NIVOSE. 2o5 

that Fouche, who was present, and perhaps already better informed, 
endeavoured to insinuate that the Royahsts and the emigres might 
have had some hand in this fresh conspiracy ; he was not Hstened 
to. It was admitted that those whom he accused would have 
profited by the plot, but no one would believe they were its 
authors. The First Consul said to his Minister, * ' Don' t make a 
carmagnole* out of this ; it was your Terrorists who did it. ' ' 

During the day, the Section of the Interior and that of Legisla- 
tion met to deliberate on a project of law, for the framing of a 
particular form of procedure and instituting exceptional Tribunals 
for trying attempts against the Government, and the life of the 
Consuls. The wise maxims which Bonaparte had professed in the 
affair of the assassination of the constitutional Bishop of Morbihan 
had already been abandoned. The united Sections proposed to 
refer the cognisance of crimes of this kind to the special Tribunals 
which were to be established for trying the plunderers of the dili- 
gences, f and also to give the Government, by a measure of 
** High Police," the right to banish any individual who might ap- 
pear dangerous to public tranquillity. This was certainly a great 
deal to grant, but the First Consul was so convinced that the plot, 
to which he had so nearly fallen a victim, was the work of the 
Terrorists, and that he had better profit by this opportunity to get 
rid of them altogether, that he was by no means satisfied with the 
plan adopted by the Sections, and read in the Council of State. 
After the first few phrases Bonaparte announced distinctly that he 
wished them to draw up a scheme for a special law to invest the 
Government with extraordinary power, and not one which, being 
in accordance with the more or less tedious forms of justice, would 
neither allow of the immediate punishment of the guilty, nor of 
the use of those strong measures of High Police, which it w^as 
necessary to employ without hesitation in the extraordinary situa- 
tion of affairs. 

Passing on to the history of the facts, and drawing a picture of 
our position, he spoke as follows : ' * There are from four to five 
hundred men, either in Paris or scattered over France, steeped in 
crime, without home, without occupation, and without means. 
These men form an army in constant action against the Govern- 
ment. It is they who were the instruments of the 31st of May, of 
the September massacres, and of those of Versailles. They it was 
who carried out the conspiracy of Babeuf, and that of the camp of 

* In the days of the Terror conspiracies got up by the police in order 
to invent criminals were called carmagnoles. . 

f At this period robbery of stage coaches had increased to a frightful 
extent. The Chouans, who had not been subdued, took part in this noble 
war. 



2o6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Crenelle. It was they who attacked the Directory, and then the 
Government which succeeded it. They are the enemies of every 
form of order, no matter what its principles, of every liberal idea, 
of every kind of government. They exist, and they are well 
known ; they have their meetings, and their information ; and 
their modes of action are derived from their familiarity with crime. 
This horde of hungr}' wolves scattered through the whole of 
society, and everywhere notorious ; branded on the forehead with 
the mark of crime, keep alive a constant state of terror. What 
must Europe think of a Government under which such wolves 
live and flourish ? What confidence can she have in a Govern- 
ment which either does not know how or else is not able to protect 
its own capital .'' — a Government under whose eyes an infernal plot 
which brings ruin and desolation on a portion of the inhabitants 
of that capital is carried out .'* It is impossible that these things 
can continue ; it is time to rid society of this scourge ; before five 
days have passed twenty or thirty of these monsters must die, and 
two or three hundred must be deported. As for me, I am ready 
to take upon myself all the weight and all the opprobrium of such 
a course, for I see nothing that is not honourable in such a meas- 
ure of public safety. I would summon these men, whose name 
is in every mouth, before me ; I would seat myself in the curule 
chair in the largest hall of the Palace wherein I dwell ; and in the 
presence of the whole people, were it possible to unite them in 
one place, I would condemn them myself, and dividing the 
penalty of death and that of deportation in the proportion I have 
just indicated, I would in one day avenge the outrages they have 
inflicted on society and mankind." 

After this speech, which had been delivered with great warmth, 
opinions were divided. The difliculty of framing, and above all of 
obtaining a law, which should give such latitude of power to the 
Government, investing it as it were with a Dictatorship, led some 
of the members of the Council to entertain an idea which had 
already occurred to myself, and which in my opinion was more 
consonant with the actual state of things, if in reality that was what 
had been described to us. 

We held that rather than corrupt our social institutions at their 
source, the First Magistrate of the Republic should have acted as 
Cicero did on the occasion of Catiline's conspiracy ; that he would 
have done better had he announced to the Legislative Body and 
the nation, that he usurped the Dictatorship on behalf of public 
safety, than by demanding the means of exercising it legally. But 
as this opinion was the effect of a momentary impulse rather than 
the outcome of mature reflection, it was promptly set aside, and 



BONAPARTE * PRONOUNCES.' 20/ 

the discussion was turning on the formulation of the proposed 
law, when Truguet demanded leave to speak. 

After much circumlocution, and some commonplace remarks 
on the facts, he came to the point of his discourse, which was that 
in the proposed measures he could not discern any protection 
against enemies who were in his opinion quite as dangerous as 
those they openly attacked. He contended that emigres and priests 
should also be aimed at. He stated that pamphlets were in circu- 
lation which proved their desire and intention to overturn the Gov- 
ernment ; and that, according to the admissions of Magardel, * the 
life of the First Consul was in as much danger from conspirators 
of this sort as from the men of September, whom he, Truguet, 
abhorred indeed, but whom he did not believe to be the only 
criminals. Lastly, he declared that in his opinion general meas- 
ures were required which should strike at the emigres^ the priests, 
and the Royalists, as well as at the Terrorists and the fanatical 
revolutionaries. 

The First Consul listened to this speech with the greatest im- 
patience, and his countenance showed that he was much annoyed. 
He controlled himself, however, until Truguet had come to an 
end, when he burst forth with, " What do you mean. Citizen 
Truguet .? explain yourself ; of whom do you speak ? What are 
the pamphlets you cite .? What are the measures you would have 
taken .? Do you contend that we ought to restore the law of 
hostages, persecute seven or eight thousand priests who have 
, returned on the faith of my honour, and drive from the Council 
of State and from the Tribunate all who are called Royalists .? 
For, if we are to believe the so-called patriots, we must send 
Portalis to Guiana ; and Roederer is a Royalist, also Defermon 
himself, and all the Council, with two or three exceptions. Am I 
to send away all these honest, honourable, and enlightened men, 
and replace them by patriots } Am I to seek for councillors 
among the residue of the Jacobin and Cordeliers' Clubs } 

" Am I once more to arouse terror and alarm in every breast .? 
Am I to proclaim the country, in danger t Am I to imitate the 
Merlinsf and the Rewbels, by striking indiscriminately on every 
side .? No, never ! never will I be forced into such excesses. I 
will not persecute the priests, I will not be persuaded to hunt men 

* This Magardel, one of the Jeaders of the Vendean army, had been 
tried in Paris by court-martial, and shot a few days before. 

t The reader will remember that some months earlier Napoleon had 
appointed Merlin to one of the first places in the Magistrature, and had 
given the government of Piedmont to General Jourdan, who, the preced- 
ing year, had proclaimed the country in danger in the Council of the Five 
Hundred. 



208 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

down because they believe in an Almighty Being, and in a religion 
which is perhaps after all the true one. I will never believe that 
a people can be ruled or led without religion. And where are 
those pressing dangers that threaten the Republic ? What influ- 
ence over its destiny can be exercised by a few more or less ridicu- 
lous pamphlets, which have made no lasting impression ? Sup- 
pose they do liken me to Csesar and Cromwell, what effect can 
that have, or what can result from it, to shake the established 
order that rules us ? Can I prevent a fool from spoiling paper by 
comparing me to Caesar ? Besides, let us, like statesmen, turn 
our eyes on the situation of France ; was it ever more brilliant ? 
Our finances are prosperous, our armies triumphant. Since the 
beginning of the Revolution our peace at home has never been so 
untroubled. La Vendee is quiet, the Chouans are engaged in re- 
pulsing the English, and Georges Cadoudal * without any influ- 
ence over the remainder of his party is wandering in the woods, 
accompanied by seven or eight men, and often obliged to sleep 
on board an English vessel. Those priests whom you would per- 
secute are praying for me. It is true that brigandage is spreading 
in some of the departments ;t but if the obligation to end the war 
did not compel me to send all our disposable troops beyond the 
frontier, brigandage would long ago have been put down for ever. 
They who trouble our peace are but few in number, but we must 
fall on them without mercy, for it is on them that obscure and am- 
bitious men, thirsting for power, would rely for help, if they 
could see a possibility of executing their designs, and for that 
reason they seek to conciliate them that they may obtain their ser- 
vices in the event of another revolution. Undeceive yourself. 
Citizen Truguet ; they will not spare you then any more than any 
other. ' Who is this Citizen Truguet ? ' they will say ; * a noble, 
an admiral, a Councillor of State ; show him no mercy ! ' " 

As he uttered this philippic, the voice of the First Consul broke ; 
he felt he was losing his self-control, and putting on his hat in the 
midst of an unfinished sentence, he abruptly closed the sitting of 
the Council, which had come to no decision. 

The deliberation on the proposed law was resumed on the 
morrow, and continued for several days, either in the interior of 
the Sections of the Council of State, or in the presence of the First 
Consul, None of the proposed alterations satisfied him ; he 
always found that something was wanting to the necessities of the 

* Georges Cadoudal, afterwards so famous for his plots against the life 
of the First Consul in 1S04, and who then had been concerned in that of 
the infernal machine. 

f Bonaparte alluded here to highway robberies and attacks upon stage 
coaches. 



THE USE OF THE SENATE. 209 

time, and constantly recurred to the ideas he had so vehemently 
expressed to us at a preceding meeting, *' There is no middle 
course," he told us; "we must either completely pardon, or 
utterty put down." And as it was pointed out to him that after a 
criminal attempt which struck at the whole people he had not the 
right to be so generous, "Then," he replied, ''you must strike 
at the roots, at the 400 brigands perpetually drawn up in line of 
batde. We must force them to say, ' Fortune has forsaken us ; 
the hand of Fate has defeated us ; there is no longer any hope. ' 
Let the chief of the band fall, the others will sink into obscurity, 
and you will restore to society ten thousand individuals who, be- 
ing flattered by their leaders with vague and delusive hopes, have 
put off until now the resumption of their former occupations." 

The majority agreed with the First Consul that an extraordinary 
measure was required, and, indeed, it could not be otherwise. We 
had the facts from the Government only, and we could not doubt 
that this plot was the work of those whom it accused. But we 
always recurred to the necessity of a law. The difficulty of com- 
piling it, the danger of discussing it, and above all the position in 
which the Government would find itself if the law were rejected, 
or adopted by a feeble majority only, alarmed us ; and in truth 
the First Consul was too wise to wish to incur such a risk. Be- 
sides, it was not a law that he wanted ; a word from Talleyrand, 
near whom I sat at one of these meetings, threw light on the de- 
signs of the First Consul. I had said to Talleyrand that if the 
chances of a discussion in the Tribunate and the possible refusal 
of a law were risks to be avoided, I could see no way out of our 
difficulties, since an opinion or debate of the Council of State 
could not constitute law, and could still less substitute itself for a 
law that had been rejected, by the Legislative Body. " You are 
right," he replied ; " but is there nothing more than the Legisla- 
tive Body and the Council of State ? What is the good of having 
a Senate if we do not make use of it ?" I saw in an instant all 
the significance of this hint, and I also understood whence it 
came. By taking a portion of the Legislative authority away from 
the ordinary authorities, by reserving to the Senate the right of 
pronouncing on extraordinary questions of public safety, by 
special acts, the Government would create a Body no longer inert 
and motionless, but one, whose authority, superior to all others, 
would dominate the entire constitutional system, and, under the 
pretext of preserving that system, would acquire the power of 
modifying it as the Government might desire ; for the latter, while 
giving the Senate the power of framing laws, reserved to itself the 
right of proposing them. The deliberations of the Senate were 
secret ; the number of the Senators was small, and the appoint- 



210 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ments were for life ; once gained over, it could be always held in 
hand, and means of seduction were never wanting. Command- 
eries would be created under tlic name of Senatorships, endow- 
ments would be made certain, and heredity would loom in the 
distance. The Senate, a cipher up to this time, would soon 
become the first power in the State, and though it might subse- 
quently exercise its power only for the benefit of the Government, 
so long as the Government was victorious, it would still retain 
enough to declare the deposition of the man who had created it. 
From this epoch, therefore, is to be dated the origin of that singu- 
lar power which gave a legal existence to those changes which we 
afterwards witnessed, and which, without social convulsion, or 
revolutionary movement, but by insensible gradations, transformed 
a democratic Republic into an absolute IVIonarchy. We cannot 
praise the acuteness of the First Consul too highly ; in the exist- 
ing emergency he saw at a glance all the future advantages that 
recourse to the Senate would secure to him, and by urging objec- 
tions against every proposal submitted to him, he contrived to 
bring his Ministers and the Council of State to acknowledge that 
they could find no other way of settling the difficult question 
which occupied them than by referring it to the Senate. 

It was decided that no law should be asked for ; and this reso- 
lution was voted by all except three members of the Council, viz. 
I'ruguet, Lacuee and Defermon, who had all spoken against it. 
The next day, 8th Nivose (December 29), the following resolution 
was taken to the Consuls : 

" The Council of State, in view of existing circumstances, is of 
opinion : 

" ist. That the Government ought to establish a Military Com- 
mission as judges extraordinary of the authors and accomplices of 
the attempt of the 3d Nivose. 

" 2d. That the Government, by an act of its authority, ought 
to decree the deportation of those persons whose presence is a 
danger to the State, and who might renew similar attempts. 

*' 3d. lastly, that the Government ought to inform the nation 
of this resolution, antl to announce it by a message to the Legis- 
lative Body, the Tribunate and Conservative Senate." 

The Consuls did not adopt these suggestions ; but, while 
rejecting them, they clearly established the end which they pro- 
posed to attain, and declared that it was necessary to give to this 
step which was indeed unconstitutional, yet eminently conservative 
of the Constitution, such a character as would {)rotect it from all 
future attack, in rendering it valid by the approbation of the con- 
servative Senate, a Body especially charged with the preservation 
of the Constitution. It was consequently decreed- 



A NEW SCENT. 211 



That on the loth Nivose, or at latest on the nth (January i, 
1801), the Consuls should summon a special meeting of the 
Ministers and Councillors of State ; that the Minister of Police 
should read to that assembly a report on the necessity of the meas- 
ure to be taken, and should submit for inspection the list of 
persons to be condemned to deportation ; that a short discussion 
should follow, and that the meeting should terminate by a decree 
of the Council, which the Section of the Interior would be charged 
to draw up. 

That three Councillors of State should immediately be appoint- 
ed to carry to the Senate the Decree of the Council, and to ex- 
plain the motives which had determined it. 

That the Senate, being assembled and forewarned, should delib- 
erate approbatively, and that these various acts should be made 
public, and communicated to the Legislative Body and to the 
Tribunate. 

Finally, that the measure should be carried into immediate exe- 
cution. 

The 9th Nivose was passed in preparing the decree, and in the 
distribution of parts, and the solemn sitting of the Council of State 
was announced for the loth Nivose at midday. But in this short 
interval, a rumour spread that, from information obtained con- 
cerning the affair of the 3d Nivose, suspicion of the crime was 
thrown on a very different party from that which the police were 
pursuing so zealously ; that there was reason to believe that Eng- 
land had paid the cost of the attempt, and employed the Royalists 
of the Vendee in its execution. 

I refused to believe in this alleged information ; I was inclined 
to think that the rumour was the work of the police themselves, 
who were endeavouring to mislead opinion by turning the public 
anger from the Jacobins, towards whom they had always a leaning, 
and directing it towards the Royalists, emigres and priests, whom 
they hated at that time with a mortal hatred. Under this convic- 
tion, I arrived at the Council of State on the loth Nivose, before 
the hour appointed for the general sitting, and I found the Sec- 
tions of the Legislation and of the Interior assembled. Real, one 
of the members of the former, spoke very strongly. He asserted 
his conviction that the attempt had not been made by the Terror- 
ists, but by the Chouans, and he declared, with reason, that a 
measure directed against a class of men in which the real criminals 
were not comprised was a cruel injustice. I replied that I was 
quite of his opinion, if it could be proved to me that the crime 
was the work of any other class. " But," I asked him, " how 
can we believe that } How can we suppose that the Government 
would leave us in an error, which would have such fatal conse- 



212 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

quences." To my objections Real replied that he was certain of 
what he advanced, and this he maintained with much warmth. 
The debate turned on too delicate a question to be conducted for 
any length of time with coolness. Animated, yet moderate, in 
the beginning, it soon degenerated, on the part of Real, into per- 
sonalities, which were indeed freely returned by his opponents, 
but which led to nothing. Each man retained his own opinion or 
prejudice. At two o'clock, in the heat of the discussion, it was 
brought to an end by an announcenient that the Assembly of the 
Council of State was postponed to the next day, and the two sec- 
tions separated. We were informed at the same time that the 
Senate, in an extraordinary sitting held the evening before, had 
adopted the plan already indicated, and that a deputation from 
that body had waited on the First Consul at eleven in the evening 
to inform him of the fact. Moreover, it had been agreed that the 
act demanded from the Senate should be called a * senatus-con- 
sultum.' Bonaparte himself had proposed this title, and his pro- 
found political foresight already perceived all the profit he might 
gain from the novel procedure which he was introducing into the 
Legislative system. This device of the senatus-consultum, — so do 
words influence things — by placing it easily above the ordinary 
laws and consular decrees, made the Senate a constituent Power, 
instead of a body of Magistrates, merely guardians of the Constitu- 
tion against the usurpations of either the legislative or the execu- 
tive authority. It is probable that the introduction of the senatus- 
consultum into the legislation was regarded by Bonaparte as so 
important to the success of his ulterior views that he was eager to 
seize the opportunity of obtaining the first exercise of it, and insist- 
ed on it, although he knew that such an act was not necessary, 
and that, it fell on innocent men, innocent, at least, of the particu- 
lar crime imputed to them. 

It was not until long afterwards that I perceived all this. At 
the time I discerned in the perseverance with which the Govern- 
ment prosecuted the remaining Jacobins and Terrorists, only a 
proof of its conviction that they were participators in the attempt 
of the 3d Nivose. I felt relieved, therefore, to know that if un- 
constitutional means were being employed to punish the authors 
of the crime, at least they were not being punished with deliberate 
injustice, and I had no conscientious scruples when, on its being 
submitted to the Council of State, I voted in favour of the propo- 
sition. 

The extraordinary sitting took place on the 1 1 th Nivose, year 
IX. (January I, 1 801). It was opened at 3 p. m. All the Ministers 
were present. 

After a brief explanation of the object of the meeting, the First 



PLOTS AND PLOTTERS. 213 

Consul called upon Maret, the Secretary of State, to read two 
reports. 

The first had been presented by Dubois, the Prefect of Police. 
It contained particulars of all the attempts that had been made on 
the life of the First Consul, from the 26th Messidor of the pre- 
vious year (July 15, 1800). The conspiracy to which particular 
attention was drawn was hatched by one Chevalier, an enterprising 
man, not wanting in ability. He had been employed at Meudon, 
where, under the National Convention, an attempt had been 
made to utilise a former discovery in the fabrication of inflam- 
mable cannon-balls.* In this employment he had acquired cer- 
tain knowledge which he proposed to apply to the construction 
of a machine which might be made to explode, and upset the First 
Consul's carriage on the road to Malmaison. f The machine was 
to have been placed on one of the little go-carts used for children ; 
but the plot was discovered, and Chevalier and his accomplices 
were arrested on the 14th Brumaire, year IX. (November 5, 1800). 

Since that time some attempts had been made to create disturb- 
ance among the working men of the capital, but they had failed. 
At last the conspiracy of the 3d Nivose broke out. Its authors 
were not yet positively known, but there was every reason to be- 
lieve that they belonged to the same class as the former conspira- 
tors. The report ended with some details of the fatal consequences 
of the explosion of the machine in the Rue Saint-Nicaise. Eight 
or ten persons had either been killed on the spot or had since died 
of their injuries. Forty-six houses in the neighbourhood had been 
seriously damaged. 

The second report was drawn up by a private agent, whose 
name did not come out. This agent was in communication with 
all the extreme party, and. the following is a concise analysis of his 
report : — 

A society which included several persons whose names had fig- 
ured in the course of the Revolution, J directed all the plots against 
the life of the First Consul. • 

In Prairial, year VIII, , they had unsuccessfully tempted the 
Grenadiers of the Consular Guard to desert. Since then, when 
Bonaparte left France for Italy, they had flattered themselves he 
would never return, and at a dinner at the house of Gombault- 

* Various experiments in the use of this kind of cannon-ball on board 
men-of-war had been made at Versailles in 1785, under the Ministry of 
M. de Castries. 

f The First Consul frequently went to this country house which 
Madame Bonaparte had bought, and which had been greatly beautified. 

^ The names given in the report are Desforges, Arena, Pepin d'Eyver- 
cheli, Talon, Jumillard, Laignelot, Ceracchi and Gombault-Lachaise. 



214 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Lachaise they had decided on their course of action, should the 
desired event take place. After they had drank to the death of 
the tvrant, it was agreed that at first they would wear the white 
cockade, so as to attract the more credulous of the Royalists, and 
prevent the more clear-sighted from escaping them by leaving 
Paris, that for forty-eight hours the capital should be given over to 
plunder, and that under favour of this plunder they would rid the 
city of the Royalists. The return of the First Consul after 
Marengo had disconcerted them. The conspirators then attempt- 
ed a fresh plot in the month of Messidor. They were to find 
assassins among a company of Grenadiers belonging to a demi- 
brigade that had just arrived in Paris. Bonaparte was informed of 
this ; but being fully confident in those troops, he ordered a 
review for the very day on which the plot was to be carried into 
effect, and placed himself in the direction of the fire. 

This plan having failed, they looked about for a French Brutus. 
Moses Bayle* undertook the task and introduced a man named 
Metgen. He was equipped, furnished with a small sum of 
money, and armed with a dagger. He took his place in the 
Grand Tier of the Theatre Fran9ais on the evening when Lafont 
played the part of Nero in Briiannicus for the first time, but the 
First Consul did not go to the theatre, and the attempt was ad- 
journed. 

These unsuccessful plots occupied the conspirators until Fructi- 
dor. In the course of that month Gombault-Lachaise invented a 
machine which would throw a ball to a distance of three hundred 
feet, and this was to be employed on the ist Vendemiaire, year 
IX. They hired a room with windows looking out on the Place 
des Victoires, whence they intended to turn the machine on the 
First Consul during the funeral ceremonies in honour of Generals 
Desaix and Kleber. But the general arrangements and the deco- 
rations' of the monument erected on the Place prevented the execu- 
tion of the project. 

They also contrived to effect a» entrance into IMalmaison dur- 
ing the same month, and reconnoitred the quarries on the road 
thither, but dared not venture on the deed. 

In Vendemiaire they constructed another machine containing a 
kind of Greek fire, and tried an experiment with it on the 25th 
of that month (October 17), behind the buildings of the hospital 
of La Salpetriere. Chevalier had worked the machine, and it 
seems that it served as a model for the one he subsequently made, 
and which was seized on the 141)1 Brumaire, when he was arrested. 

* Moses Bayle had been a Member of the National Convention, and 
remarkable for his revolutionary excesses. He had served in the Direc- 
tory Police, under Bourguijjnon and even under Fouch6, until iSoo. 



A BLACK TEST. 215 



^ Besides all this, they had drawn up the plan of a Constitution 
for France, after the death of the First Consul. One Didier, 
probably the same who was accused under the Directory at the 
time of the Babeuf conspiracy, was designated as Mayor of Paris. 

These attempts were the work of an association which called it- 
self The Company of Tyrannicides, and whose members were bound 
by a special oath. 

When these two Reports had been read, Fouche, the Minister 
of Police, rose to speak. 

He presumed that the Government must now be undeceived 
regarding the system of generosity it had hitherto pursued towards 
the scoundrels who were threatening it. " Since September 
1.792," said he, "the same individuals have always been conspir- 
ing against every kind of Government." He recapitulated their 
devices from the establishment of the Consulate until the plot of 
the 3d Nivose, " a plot the thread of which is in the hands of the 
police, who will supply such information to justice as will keep it on the 
right track. ' ' He divided these men into two classes ; those who 
with their own hands had shed blood, and those who were impli- 
cated whether as instigators or approvers. The first only he pro- 
posed to treat with severity. 

The Minister next recapitulated the various conspiracies men- 
tioned in the report of the Prefect of Police, as well as in that of 
the secret agent, and gave further and more precise details con- 
cerning them. Lastly, after naming the principal accomplices, 
he concluded by proposing the banishment from Paris and from 
France of all the Septembrisists or Terrorists, and by reducing his 
motion to four principal heads. 

I St. The accused to be brought before a military tribunal. 
2d. The Septembrisists to be deported. 
3d. The remaining Terrorists to be exiled from Paris. 
4 th. A law to impose conditions upon residing in Paris to be 
demanded. 

The Secretary of State, Maret, then read out the list of individ- 
uals for deportation. The greater number were unknown to the 
members of the Council. The only remarkable persons were 
Prince Charles of Hesse, Destrem, Botto, Felix, Lepelletier, Four- 
nier the American, and some others, who had been more or less 
noticeable during the course of the Revolution, for their exagger- 
ated opinions, or actions. 

The reading of these various papers being ended, the debate 
began. It turned especially on the report of the Minister of Police 
and on the conclusions he had drawn. Several members *of the 



2l6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Council, myself among the number, remarked that the Minister 
spoke with extreme rcser\e of the event of the 3d Nivose, whereas 
he gave exact and full details of the preceding plots ; and that only 
by analogy, and the similarity of the means employed, could the 
conclusion be reached that the authors of the latter criminal design 
belonged to the class pointed out by the Minister, against which 
exclusively he proposed severe measures. 

I went farther, and stated my opinion that if the report of the 
Minister were to be published in order to justify the impending 
measures, it would be indispensable to modify the phrase which I 
have italicised above, as it appeared to cast suspicion on a class to 
which those who were being prosecuted did not belong. 

These observations were, on the whole, well received, an atten- 
tive examination of the papers that it would be desirable to pub- 
lish was promised, and the P'irst Consul, regarding the debate as 
concluded, put the three following questions to the vote. 

/Trj/. Is it necessary, under existing circumstances, to have re- 
course to an extraordinary measure ? Unanimously resolved in 
the aflirmative. 

Secondly. Ought that measure to form the matter of a law ? 
Unanimously resolved in the negative, with the exception of 
Truguet. 

Thirdly. Shall this measure be referred to the Conservative 
Senate } Unanimously resolved in the affirmative. 

When I reflect on what took place at that sitting I can only de- 
plore the facility with which men under the sway of a fixed idea 
are led away in political assemblies. In the case which I am re- 
lating, the fixed idea of the Members of the Council of State was 
the conviction that the Terrorists were the only enemies danger- 
ous to the Government ; that men, themselves stained by the 
greatest excesses, and who had shed the blood of their fellow-citi- 
zens, ought to be outlawed by society ; and that the accomplish- 
ment of that end was so great a benefit, that every means of attain- 
ing it was justifiable. This was a false and dangerous maxim, the 
application of which may entail fatal consequences ! Thus, al- 
though a calm examination of the reports that had just been read 
to us would have made us more than ever doubtful that the real 
criminals of the 3d Nivose were threatened by the proposed meas- 
ure, we unanimously agreed, without hesitation, to the proposi- 
tions submitted to us. But the (jovernment carefully abstained 
from exposing the reports that had been read to the Council to the 
dispassionate discussion which publicity would have entailed ; the 
weak side of those Reports would have been immediately recog- 
nised, and public opinion would not have been satisfied with 
them. No part of the [)apers read to us was printed, and the Re« 



THE TRIAL OF CERACCHI. 2T7 

port of the Minister of Police, which three days afterwards was 
presented to the Senate, and was supposed to have served as the 
basis of the discussion at the Council of State, was altogether 
different from the one we had listened to ; the questions on which 
we had to deliberate were not presented in the same way, and in 
the list of names for deportation, several of those which were com- 
prised in Maret's list, among- others that of Botto, formerly Secre- 
tary to Barras, were suppressed. 

The Senate, however, already favourably disposed, showed no 
hesitation, and the senatus-consultum, carried up by three orators 
of the State-Council — ^Roederer, Simeon, and Portalis — was ren- 
dered. As the first act of the kind, it cemented the union of the 
Senate with the Government, and created that powerful instrument 
which served to build up the edifice which Bonaparte was then 
meditating, and which he so rapidly succeeded in erecting. 

I must add, moreover, that the Government made little use of 
the right to deport the Terrorists which had just been conferred 
upon it by the Senate. They employed it in only a few cases. 
The individuals were simply banished from Paris, not deported, 
and were subsequently allowed to return. Perhaps the First Con- 
sul, according as more positive information disclosed the real 
authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivose, felt the injustice of 
inflicting punishment on innocent persons ; or, being satisfied with 
having put the Senate in action and created a new source of power, 
from which he purposed to derive immense advantage, he did not 
wish to excite popular discontent by the severity of the first act of 
authority it enabled him to exert. However this may be, it is a 
fact that the senatus-consultum produced little result, and soon 
became a dead letter. 

The event of the 3d Nivose led to Ceracchi and his accomplices 
being brought to trial, for having attempted the life of the First 
Consul on the i8th Vendemiaire. Until now no proceedings had 
been commenced. The act of accusation was drawn up on the 
6th Nivose f December 2']'), and by a judgment delivered on the 
19th of the same month (January 9) Ceracchi, Demerville, Joseph 
Arena and Topino Lebrun were condemned to death and exe- 
cuted. The Tribunal acquitted the other accused persons. 

Shortly afterwards, the real authors of the attempt of the 3d 
Nivose became known. The gates of Paris had been shut from 
the 20th Nivose (January 10, 1801) and this police measure, which 
during the Revolution was only resorted to on occasions of serious 
danger, real or supposed, lasted for several days. To enter or to 
leave Paris was alike forbidden, without the production of a safe 
conduct or a passport. A strict supervision was exercised over 
strangers dwelling in Paris. Extraordinary measures had been 



2l8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

taken for the arrest of various persons, especially among the 
Chouans and the returned emigres. The police, in fact, mostly 
pursued their enquiries among the latter, and delayed or neglected 
the execution of the senatus-consultum against the Terrorists. 
Everything pointed to the conclusion that the police authorities 
were convinced that the real criminals of the 3d Nivose would be 
found among the Royalists of La Vendee or of Brittany, nor were 
they mistaken. In short, between the 29th Nivose and the Sth 
Pluviose, the three principal actors in the conspiracy, the con- 
structors of the Infernal Machine, were arrested. Their names 
are as follows : 

Carbon, alias Petit Frangois, Captain in the Vendean army, 
and serving under General Bourmont. 

Timoleon, Chief of the Staff of the above-named General. 

Saint-Rejeant, alias Pierrot, Lieutenant under Georges Cadou- 
dal, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chouans in INIorbihan.* 

Thus all doubt was removed, and the Chief of the Police was 
triumphant. But his conduct in this business was not the less 
odious. What can be thought of a man who consents to hand over 
a considerable number of persons to public vengeance, when all the 
time he is convinced that not one of them is guilty, or even impli- 
cated in the crime of which they are all accused ! This was a 
source of endless regret for those in authority who, deceived by 
lying reports, gave their consent to these iniquitious sentences ! 
For my own part I have never forgiven myself for my share in this 
matter. The most remarkable part of it was the selection of the 
orators who were sent to the Senate. Roederer, no doubt, acted 
in perfect good faith. But how could Portalis and Simeon, who 
at a later period prided themselves on having constantly acted as 
agents of the Bourbons under the Empire, consent to support 
before the Senate an arbitrary measure which they well knew to be 
unjust.?' 

I have dwelt at length on the celebrated date of the 3d Nivose, 
and I was bound to do so. The details it has given me an oppor- 
tunity of narrating, the growing inclination towards despotism, 
with which Bonaparte's danger inspired him at this time, are 
worthy of attentive consideration. Recognizing that he had 
equally formidable enemies in the two extreme parties, the Royal- 

* It was Saint-Rejeant who fired the infernal machine. The violence 
of the shock flung him against a post, and part of his breast-bone was 
driven in. He was obliged to resort to a surgeon, and it would seem that 
this man denounced him. See, besides, the report of nth Pluviose by 
the Minister of Police, which appeared in the " Monileur" on the 12th, 
very different to the one he had read a month earlier at the Council of 
State. 



THE AUTHOR IS SENT TO CORSICA. 219 

ists and the Terrorists, he became persuaded that Supreme Power 
alone could save him from plots against his life, and the unexpect- 
ed docility displayed by all the bodies of the State convinced him 
that thenceforth there was nothing he might not attempt with great 
probability of success. Not, however, that those bodies or the 
citizens were already prepared to confer on him the absolute Sov- 
ereignty which he acquired two years later ; but the public imagi- 
nation was so deeply impressed with the idea that he was the 
necessary man, and so terrified at the abyss into which the nation 
must fall if he failed it, that no sacrifice was thought too costly to 
preserve a life on which the existence of France herself depended. 
Bonaparte was therefore greatly indebted to his enemies. By 
aiming at his life with the assassin's dagger they had revealed to 
him the secret of his strength, and enforced on him, so to speak, 
the necessity of exerting it. 

The criminal and unsuccessful attempt of the 3d Nivose had 
also the effect of hastening the conclusion of the negotiations 
which had been seriously resumed at Luneville, in consequence of 
our military successes in Italy and our victory at Hohenlinden. 
Fortune had delivered Bonaparte from several conspiracies, and 
France had been saved from the anarchy which would have been 
caused by his death, so that it had become a necessity for the 
Powers to treat with her. Peace, Austria's sole resource, was 
equally needful for Bonaparte in order that he might tranquillise 
the interior of France, especially the Southern Provinces, which 
were still laid waste by brigandage and by a sanguinaiy reaction. 
Joseph Bonaparte and Count von Cobentzel speedily agreed upon 
the principal points of the treaty, and I was gratified to hear this 
good news. 

But I was not destined to witness the triumph of the negotiator 
on his return to Paris. The First Consul hurried me off to Cor- 
sica. The Consular Act, appointing me Administrator-General of 
the two departments of Golo and Liamone, into which the island 
was at that time divided, had been sent to me on the 21st Nivose 
(January 11), together with a decree of the Council of State con- 
ferring extensive powers on me during the suspension of the rule 
of the Constitution, a suspension which had been pronounced by 
law. 

I therefore prepared to set out ; but before my departure, I had 
several interviews with the First Consul, from whom I received 
instruction as to the line I was to follow in my administration. 
He desired, after having restored peace in the country, to exercise 
a salutary influence on the manners and customs of his fellow 
countrymen, to civilise them ; to introduce new modes of cultiva- 
tion into an island so favoured by climate and situation ; to em- 



220 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

hellish the towns, especially Ajaccio his birthplace, and to bring 
salubrious water within reach of its inhabitants ; lastly, to con- 
struct roads and make them fit for wheeled trafBc. I gladly un- 
dertook to assist him in these benevolent endeavours, and although 
I could not disguise from myself the dilliculties in my way — several 
serious disturbances having occurred in the island since the de- 
parture of the English — I felt my spirits rise with the hope of do- 
ing some good, I hastened to collect everything that could help 
me in the execution of these desirable projects. I obtained from 
five to six thousand volumes from the Minister of the Interior, to 
form the nucleus of a public library in Ajaccio ; a printing-press 
for the same town, and a quantity of seeds and grafts, which the 
esteemed Thouni himself selected for me. I hoped to naturalise 
in Corsica some of the productions of America, such as cotton, 
indigo, and the cactus, which supplies food to the cochineal ; live 
specimens of that insect w^ere also given me. This valuable collec- 
tion was entrusted to M. Noisette, a skilful gardener who accom- 
panied me to the island. 

All my preparations being complete, I left Paris with my family 
on the 15th Pluviose, year IX. (February 4, 1801). The roads 
were at that time in a frightful condition. Our carriages were 
upset twice before we reached Lyons, where I embarked on the 
Rhone, and went by boat as far as Avignon. To the latter town, 
on the evening of the 28th Pluviose, a trade-courier, on his way 
to Marseilles, brought the news of the conclusion of peace between 
France and Austria at Luneville, on the 20th Pluviose (Feb. 9). 

After various accidents caused by the bad state of the roads, I 
arrived at Toulon on the 7th Ventose (Feb. 26). 

The south of France was still far from tranquil. Brigandage 
and murder were of common occurrence, and the inhabitants in 
general showed little liking for the Consular Government. The 
news of peace had made but a slight impression ; it was hardly 
believed, and the report was regarded as a trick of the Govern- 
ment. We had need of a considerable escort to make the journey 
between Marseilles and Toulon in safety, and to cross the gorges of 
Ollioules, a very dangerous passage at that time. General Cervoni,* 

* General Cervoni was a Corsican by birth, deeply attached to ihe 
Bonaparte family, an able soldier, and, moreover, a very estimable man. 
During my stay at Marseilles, he gave me some particulars of the origin 
of the greatness of the First Consul, which I will set down here. Bona- 
parte was in Corsica at the beginning of the Revolution ; he was appoint- 
ed to a command in the National Guard when that body was organized. 
Persecuted by the partisans of Paoli, he and his family took refuge in 
France and came to Marseilles. I^c was then merely a captain of artil- 
lery, and in that capacity was ordered to escort a convoy of gunpowder 
from Avignon for the siege of Toulon. Having accomplished this task, 



TOULON. 221 

who was in command of the eighth MiHtary Division, of which the 
departments of the Rhone and Var form a part, was active in repress- 
ing the universally prevalent disorder ; but he was ill-seconded by 
the municipalities, who trembled before the remnants of the bands of 
assassins which had been organized two years previously, and had 
committed the most frightful excesses. The municipal authorities 
dared not prosecute the guilty men, and crimes were committed 
in broad daylight without either a complaint being lodged or a 
witness found to aid the law in its pursuit of the criminals. Thus 
at every period of our troubles the southern towns have shown the 
same passionateness on one side or the other. Absurd intolerance 
and sanguinary fury have continually dishonoured the side adopted 
by the South. 

Orders had been given at Toulon to equip a corvette to convey 
me to Corsica. As she was not in readiness when I arrived, I was 
obliged to prolong my stay for nearly three weeks. 

Another circumstance also aided to delay me. A French 
squadron under Admiral Ganteaume had entered the roadstead of 
Toulon, on the 6th Ventose. From day to day we awaited its 
departure for Egypt, for we hoped that by sailing at the same 
time our ship would be escorted as far as Corsica. But the time 
consumed in repairing several of the vessels of this squadron, 
which were damaged by the wind, and the supineness of the 

he passed through Marseilles just at the moment when Gasparin and 
Salicetti, Commissioners of the Convention, attached to the troops be- 
sieging Toulon, had directed Cervoni to ask the Military Commander of 
Marseilles for an artillery officer, to whom part of the siege works might 
be confided. Joseph Bonaparte, who was then at Marseilles, informed 
Cervoni of his brother's arrival, and they went together to seek Napoleon 
at the Club. They invited him to drink punch at a neighbouring cafe, and 
proposed to him that he should go to the siege of Toulon. Bonaparte 
made some difficulty before accepting ; he had a poor opinion of Car- 
teaux, who was conducting the siege. However, he was at last induced 
to consent. On his arrival before Toulon Bonaparte went immediately 
to inspect the batteries, and everything appertaining to the service of the 
artillery, and was exceedingly dissatisfied. The positions appeared to 
him badly chosen ; and he noticed in particular that a battery directed 
against the enemy's fleet was at too great a distance. He therefore de- 
clared openly to Gasparin that he could not possibly serve under a general 
who had not the most elementary military knowledge. Gasparin was 
struck with this declaration, recognised all that might be expected from a 
man who already showed signs of the ability he was afterwards to display 
so successfully. He wrote in this sense to the Committee of Public 
Safety, who recalled Carteaux and replaced him by Dugommier. Bona- 
parte got on well with the new general, and predicted that, with Dugom- 
mier directing the siege, Toulon would fall within a month. The event 
justified this prediction. After the taking of Toulon Bonaparte was 
named General of Brigade, and this was the origin of his military glory 
and success. 



222 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE xMELITO. 



Admiral, as well as difficulties of detail, which cropped up every 
day, detained us in the roadstead until the end of the month. 
The expedition commanded by Admiml Ganteaume was in reality 
destined for Egypt, where it was to land two thousand men, but 
this destination had been masked at the time of its departure from 
Brest, under the pretence of sending it to Saint- Domingo. Les- 
calier, Councillor of State, and General Satruguet had embarked 
with the fleet ; the first as Administrator-General, the second as 
Captain-General of that colony. A large number of negro 
officers had also embarked, believing they were going to serve 
under the orders of Toussaint I'Ouverture, and it was only when 
the squadron passed through the Straits of Gibraltar that each and 
all found they had been deceived. 

Notwithstanding these precautions, and this deception of which 
they were the dupes, the expedition had not succeeded. From 
what Ganteaume himself told me, he had found superior forces on 
the Coast of Africa, and moreover he had believed himself to be 
followed by a division of the enemy that had entered the Mediter- 
ranean after him. The fear of finding himself between two squad- 
rons with but feeble resources, and compromising the precious 
remnants of our navy, had determined him to cast anchor at 
Toulon. Since his arrival only a few of the enemy's frigates had 
been seen cruising about, to take obser\'ations of the movements 
of the French squadron, and no formidable force had appeared. 

When Bonaparte heard that the squadron had put into Toulon, 
and that it was remaining there, he was very angry, and sent 
Colonel Lucien, one of his aides-de-camp, to urge Ganteaume to 
put to sea. The only hope of retaining Egypt, or at least enabling 
the French to maintain their position there some time longer, lay 
in the arrival of the troops and succour of all kinds sent out by 
this squadron — if it failed to arrive, the conquest must be entirely 
abandoned. But notwithstanding all the importance the Govern- 
ment seemed to attach to this expedition, Ganteaume delayed his 
departure from day to day ; he even purposely exaggerated the 
enemy's forces by which he said he was pursued ; for it was 
known afterwards that the English had only three or four men-of- 
war on the Coast of Africa, or before Alexandria, and the French 
squadron was by far the stronger. On the other hand, very 
serious differences had arisen between the Admiral and General 
Satruguet, in command of the troops on board, and everything 
seemed to combine to render the expedition a failure. * At last, 

* In fact it did fail completely, and in the same year (1801) Ganteaume 
brought back his squadron to Toulon without having effected the disem- 
barkation of the troops. Nevertheless he was a very skilful commander, 



CORSICA. 223 

after a delay of twenty-three days in the roadstead of Toulon, the 
French squadron weighed anchor on the 29th Ventose (March 20) 
at six in the evening. The war-sloop Hirondelle, with myself, my 
family, and several other persons employed in the Corsican 
Administration on board, set sail at the same time, under escort 
of the fleet. The north-west wind blew very strong. Hardly had 
we left the roadstead when the Admiral hailed us, to say that one 
of his vessels had struck, that he could no longer make way, and 
had brought to, waiting until the ship could be got off. 

As he gave us no orders, the captain of our vessel determined 
to remain with the squadron ; but at eleven o'clock a violent wind 
arose, and the sea became so rough that we were unable to 
remain with the squadron. The next morning we found ourselves 
altogether separated from it, and in sight of the islands of Hyeres. 
In the evening, the wind having fallen, we cast anchor at Saint- 
Tropez, where we were detained two days awaiting a favourable 
wind. 

We set sail again on the ist Germinal (March 22), and the next 
morning we sighted Corsica, but were detained near the coast by 
a dead calm, which prevented us from doubling Cape Roux to 
reach Ajaccio. The captain of the Hirondelle put in at Calvi, 
v/here we landed on the morning of the 4th Germinal, year IX.* 
(March 25, 1801). From Calvi, crossing the island by difficult 
roads, on the loth Germinal (March 31) we reached Ajaccio, 
where I established myself in the house of the Bonaparte family, 
which had been placed at my disposal by the First Consul. 

as he proved in the more fortunate expedition sent to revictual Corfu in 
1807, and of which I shall have future occasion to speak. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

State of Corsica at the period of the Author's arrival — His proposed sys- 
tem for the administration of the country — Difficulties thrown in his 
way by the partisans of the Bonaparte family, and the military authori- 
ties — He dismisses General Muller, Commandant of the Division, from 
the island — Improvements introduced into the country-^An account of 
the Author's excursion to Monte-Rotondo — Curious fete given in his 
honor at Cervione — The organic laws of the Concordat concluded with 
the Pope — The Life-Consulship — Little interest shown by the Corsicans 
in voting for it — Numerous adverse votes among the troops — Journey 
to Monte d'Oro — Information concerning the Bonaparte family and 
their origin — The Author is recalled, and Corsica is again placed under 
the rule of the Constitution — Sketch of the state of the island and the 
customs of the inhabitants. 

Ox the whole I was well received in Corsica ; the recollections of 
my first mission to the island were favourable to me ; my impar- 
tiality, and that a sincere desire to restore peace to the country was 
the sole aim of all my actions was well known. The people be- 
lieved me to be still animated by the same sentiments, and they 
were not mistaken. IVIy greatest difficulties, therefore, did not lie 
in the aversion or the opposition of the inhabitants, but arose from 
the ascendency exercised by the partisans of the First Consul's 
family, and which they wanted to continue to exercise. They 
looked upon me merely as their instrument, to be used solely to 
get rid of'their enemies, and to confer favours on their proteges. 
I was by no means inclined to play such a part as this, and had I 
done so, I should not only have failed in my most obvious duty, 
but I should have added to the discord which it was my principal 
l)usiness to appease. I therefore assumed an independent attitude, 
and I soon became a mark for the enmity of all those who did not 
find me sufficiently ])liant, and who made complaints and accusa- 
tions of all kinds against me at Paris. 1 had much to bear from 
these machinations, although I must do the First Consul the jus- 
tice to say that he pcrsevcringly protected me when I was attacked 
by the basest calumnies, and would never withdraw his confidence 
from me. 

I shall now descrfbe the state of the country when I arrived, and 
the course which I adopted in the management of public affairs. 



LAWLESSNESS- IN THE ISLAND. 225 

At the close of my first mission Corsica had been brought under 
the rule of the Constitution of year III., and during the whole 
existence of that Constitution the island had been governed by 
Departmental administrations, whose members were selected from 
among the inhabitants of the island exclusively. The elections, 
which were sometimes contested by the armed partisans of the 
various factions into Avhich the wealthiest and most powerful fami- 
lies were divided, had been a constant pretext for disturbance 
which frequently led to bloodshed. 

When the elections were over, the victorious party would make 
use of its power, avenge itself on its opponents, and by heaping 
up acts of petty persecution and injustice, would finally drive the 
people into open revolt. The revolution of the i8th Brumaire 
took place. But in the island the result was not the same as in 
the interior of France. A kind of military rule took the place of 
the administration that during the last years of the Executive 
Directory had been confided to men actually born in the island, 
and at the beginning of year VIII. the General in command of the 
division united, so to speak, every kind of authority in his own 
person, although the central administrations did not formally 
cease to exercise their functions until the arrival of the Prefects. 

Notwithstanding this change, the establishment of the Consular 
Government and the Constitution of year VIII. had had but little 
effect. Salicetti, who had been sent to Corsica as the delegate of 
the Consuls, had not succeeded in preventing the evil consequences 
of the adverse disposition of the public mind. Being a native of 
the country, and therefore always suspected of partiality, he met 
with obstinate opposition everywhere. The inhabitants, exasper- 
ated by long-continued persecution, and agitated by the false 
hopes that were disseminated through the interior by returned 
emigres and by emissaries of the English, were very unmanage- 
able ; and the severity of the means employed, perhaps without 
due regard to prudence, to repress the beginning of trouble, had 
ended by causing positive insurrections in several parts of the 
island. Thus in the months of Floreal and Prairial of year VIII. 
(May and June 1800) a revolt had broken out in the cantons of 
Porto- Vecchio and Fiumorbo,* and afterwards in Balagna. The 
attempt to repress the insurrection had utterly failed in the two 
first cantons ; the troops which were sent there for the purpose had 
been forced to fall back, on account of the total interruption of 
communications. Balagna, on the contrary, had been quickly 
subdued by a force of 2000 men, who penetrated into that prov- 

* Thinly inhabited and somewhat uncivilized cantons on the eastern 
coast of Corsica. 



226 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ince, the richest of the island. wSevere measures had been taken 
against the insurgents ; many of them were hanged, and the Con- 
sular delegates imposed a fine of 2,000,000 francs (^80,000), of 
which, however, only 400,000 (^^16,000) was realised. 

Notwithstanding the subjugation of Balagna, and the numerous 
sentences passed by the Military Commission which Salicetti had 
instituted, the country was still far from perfect tranquillity. Some 
men who had been condemned and had afterwards escaped the 
execution of their sentences, had taken refuge in the mountains 
and were a terror to the country, carrying on a system of brigand- 
age which they exercised on all travellers, and also perpetrating acts 
of private vengeance. No one could travel in any direction with- 
out an escort, and it was frequently necessary to send a detach- 
ment of five or six men in order to convey a letter from one post 
to another. 

The effect of this state of things was more or less perceptible in 
all parts of the island, and was rendered still more serious by the 
dearth of provisions and the high price of bread ; by the discon- 
tent of the troops, whose pay was in arrear, and whose destitution 
was extreme ; by the delay in the arrival of the funds that had 
been sent from Paris to provide for their wants ; by the anger ex- 
cited by the manner in which those funds were expended, particu- 
larly the money produced by the Balagna fine ; and, lastly, by the 
absolute default of justice. 

The institution of juries in Corsica had rendered it impossible 
to punish crime. Divided as they were into parties, and at the 
same time almost all connected by family ties, the inhabitants, 
who from the remotest period of their social existence had been 
accustomed to avenge their injuries themselves, or to hand down 
the task of vengeance from generation to generation, looking upon 
revenge as a sacred debt of honour ; the inhabitants, 1 say, were 
incapable of conceiving a just idea of the duty and office of juries. 
The strongest evidence, even positive proof of crime, never induced 
a jury composed of men of the same party, or the same family, 
as the accused, to pronounce him guilty, because public opinion 
attaches dishonour to any one who, to use the expression of the 
country, ** denies his party or deserts his blood." If, on the con- 
trary, the accused were of the opposite party to that of the jury, 
the certainty of being mercilessly hunted down, and of incurring a 
vengeance which at best could only be deferred, equally paralysed 
the action of trial by jury, and the useless and expensive proceed- 
ings were almost always null and void. 

Such was the state of Corsica at the time of my arrival. To 
extricate the C(,)untry from this deplorable condition the (Govern- 
ment had proposed and obtained the law which suspended the 



ENCOURAGING RESULTS. 22/ 

Constitution in the departments of Golo and Liamone, and this, 
far from being an act of severity, as it appeared to be at first sight, 
was in reaHty a substantial benefit. 

Having received instructions from my Government, and having 
been granted very wide powers for governing a country where the 
difficulties to be overcome were so great, I laid down for myself a 
plan of conduct differing from that which had been followed hith- 
erto. I applied myself first to restoring the course of justice, 
which had been in abeyance for several years, and my first care was 
the institution of a criminal tribunal equally composed of civil and 
military judges. But I imposed at the same time a rule on this 
tribunal, that in proportion as it should rigorously punish such 
offences and crimes as, whatever may be the opinions of a nation 
and the mode of its Government, are real crimes and offences, so 
it should show consideration and even indulgence towards actions 
belonging exclusively to the political order, which had a more or 
less legitimate excuse in the numerous revolutionary movements 
that had taken place in Corsica, and the contending influence suc- 
cessively exerted by those who had been at the head of affairs in 
-the country. 

At the same time, therefore, that I granted an amnesty in the 
name of the Government to the insurgents of Fiumorbo and Porto- 
Vecchio ; that I allowed the men who, after the insurrection of 
Balagna, had fled into the mountains to come back to their homes 
under caution ; that I permitted the return of several- individuals 
whose names had been from motives of personal animosity in- 
scribed on the list of emigres* I gave no chance of escape either 
to assassins or brigands. Many -of these, who had been arrested 
and publicly tried by the Extraordinary Tribunal which I had 
established at Ajaccio, were punished with death, and that salutary 
example, which announced the re-establishment of legal justice, 
had a happy effect. In less than three months I had the satisfac- 
tion of finding confidence restored, property secure, long-inter- 
rupted communications once more open, and trust in the impar- 
tiality and firmness of the Government growing daily. 

Still, notwithstanding these encouraging results, my efforts were 
far from being universally appreciated and supported, f My im- 
partiality in the appointment of officials, my strict rectitude in the 

* The First Consul had himself told me, in Paris, that he did not be- 
lieve more than thirty individuals could, with justice, be retained on the 
list of imigrh. 

\ One of the greatest misfortunes of the Administration in Corsica is 
that a post in that island is always regarded in France as a punishment 
and not a favour, and that either the most ordinary individuals are sent 
thither, or else persons who have given dissatisfaction in Paris. 



228 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

management of the public mone>s, my inexorable punishment of 
extortion and exactions, procured me a great many enemies. 

The military especially, mortified that extraordinary powers which 
extended even over them had been conferred upon me, showed me 
decided hostility. Far from helping me in my endeavours to re- 
store public tranquillity, they thwarted them to the best of their 
power. At last, General Muller, \vho Mas in command of the 
division, a brave soldier but of little judgment, declared himself 
so openly against me, and conducted himself with so much im- 
propriety, that I was obliged, for my own authority's sake, to 
order him back to France. This decisive act, of which the First 
Consul did not disapprove, bettered my position, and for a time 
silenced my adversaries. But they soon returned to the charge 
with renewed violence. It was Bonaparte's uncle, afteiM-ards 
Cardinal Fesch, and General Casablanca who especially opposed 
me in Paris. I had refused to confer favours and appointments to 
which they had no claim on some proteges of theirs. This could 
not be forgiven me, and they made complaints of every one of my 
actions to the Ministers, who being themselves displeased at the 
removal of Corsica from their administration, lent a willing ear to 
all they had to say. ]\Iy difficulties therefore increased at every 
step, and I had need of all my strength to weather the storm. I 
shall not enter into the particulars of the intricate affairs I had to 
manage. At that time they occupied me entirely ; they were of 
great importance to the country and to myself ; they are of none 
now. I shall only say a few words of the improvements which I 
effected in the island. 

Through my exertions a high road was opened in the interior 
of Corsica, by which easy communication between Ajaccio and 
Bastia was established. This road, which crosses the mountain- 
chain that divides Corsica into two unequal parts, is highly pictu- 
resque. At the time of my departure from the island it was in a 
for\vard state, and I believe the works were continued afterwards 
and the road brought to perfection. All I can say is that my 
family travelled along it in a carriage, the first time that a vehicle 
had come from Ajaccio to Corte, through the difficult pass of Foce 
di Guizzavona. 

The town of Ajaccio was embellished and enlarged ; some old 
fortifications were levelled, and a new suburb arose on their site. 
The librar}' diat I had brought with me was deposited in the build- 
ings formerly owned by the Jesuits, and was thrown open to the 
inhabitants. The printing-press was set up, and vied with that of 
Bastia the only one until then existing in Corsica. Some land 
belonging to the Statfc, to the west of Ajaccio, was formed into a 
botanical garden, where the seeds and plants I had obtained in 



EXCURSION TO MONTE-ROTONDO. 229 

Paris throve, on the whole, exceedingly well. Cotton-grass, the 
cotton-trees, and indigo, were in full growth. The cochineal- 
cactus had taken root, and the insect that feeds on it was flourish- 
ing. I had found a water supply for the town from whence a 
canal could be brought through the Botanical Gardens, which 
might then have been considerably enlarged. Meanwhile I had 
caused a large resei-voir which sufficed for present wants to be 
constructed. These useful and peaceful victories over nature were 
to me a delightful pastime, and a very real consolation amid the 
cares that habitually oppressed me. I had even the satisfaction of 
feeling that my labours were not altogether without reward, and 
that I was repaid by the affection of at least a portion of the in- 
habitants. I had an opportunity of testing this in the course of 
my numerous journeys into the interior. In the month of Fruc- 
tidor, year IX., and in the month of Thermidor, year X., I ex- 
plored the two highest mountains of Corsica, Monte-Rotondo and 
Monte d' Oro, and as I am unacquainted with any book of travels 
in which a description of those mountains is to be found, I will 
insert at this place an extract from my journal, beginning with my 
first excursion. 

Excursion to Monte-Rotondo 

(^a/so called Monie-Gradaccio in old Corsican Maps). 

We started from Bastia on the nth Fructidor, year IX. (August 
29, 1 801), and proceeded to Corta,* not by the high road, but 
across the mountains by way of Biguglia and Murato. From 
Murato we came to Corta to pass the night. 

We left Corta on the 1 2th Fructidor at 2 p. m. with two shep- 
herds who acted as guides, and directed our way towards the west, 
ascending the Restonica, one of the two rivers that flow through 
Corta. We halted at 5 p. m. and passed the night on the ridge of a 
mountain called La Punta del Renoso, one of the counter-forts of 
Monte-Rotondo. From this point we resumed our way at two 
o'clock A.M., by the light of the ne\vly risen moon. We first went 
tip a valley formed by two spurs of the Punta del Renoso, and 
through which flows a stream called the Rivisecco, which empties 
itself farther on into the Restonica. The air was chill, but the 
way so rugged that we were all bathed in perspiration. After 
two hours of most difficult walking we crossed the Punta del 
Renoso, which is a sort of barrier closing the valley, and whence 

* My fellow-travellers were MM. Pietri, Prefect of Golo ; Methuan, a 
mining engineer ; Demony, a young man employed in my administration, 
and Noisette, a botanist. 



230 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Rivisecco dashes down in a cascade. We found it again on 
the other side of the natural dyke I have just mentioned, and we 
followed it, still ascendinu^. to its source at the foot of Monte- 
Rotondo. It is alleged that this source is in reality that of the 
Restonica, and consequently it would be the Rivisecco that takes 
the name of Restonica, when it joins the waters of the valley 
through which we had passed on leaving Corta. This would be 
a nice point to determine, for the name of Restonica in these 
mountains seems common to all the streams which flow to the east 
of Monte-Rotondo. 

On reaching the foot of the latter mountain we were enabled to 
appreciate its external form. It presents the appearance of a trun- 
cated cone, crowned with several bare summits more or less 
needle-shaped. Two ver}^ steep ascents lead up to it. We fol- 
lowed that on the left, which forms the southern flank of the 
mountain. The ascent was at first easy enough ; we passed a few 
small shrubs, such as Alnus {Vetula abius) and the juniper {Jtini- 
penis communis], but they were extremely stunted. Very soon, 
however, all vegetation disappeared, and the path became so steep 
that we had great difficulty in reaching a col which separates two of 
the aiguilles that rise above the mountain. It was 8 a.m. when 
we reached this point, whence we could observe the curious con- 
figuration of the mountain. It absolutely resembles an amphi- 
theatre, in which there is a wide opening for the escape of the 
waters of a lake contained in what might be the arena. The walls 
of this amphitheatre are almost perpendicular, and must have been 
quite so originally, for it is easy to see that the rocky fragments 
which give them more slope and render it possible to climb to the 
top of the wall are but slips of the crest, and that the needles and 
isolated summits are formed simply by portions of rock which have 
resisted the attacks of time, and other causes to which the destruc- 
tion of this gigantic wall may be attributed. 

From the col to which we had climbed with so much difficulty, 
we could enjoy a delightful view, but after having come so far it 
was impossible not to wish to reach the highest point of the 
mountain now rising on our right. After a few moments' rest, 
therefore, we resumed our way, and keeping as much as possible 
on the summit of the wall, and springing from rock to rock, we at 
last reached the highest point and the object of our expedition. 
We took our stand on a pyramid of stones heaped together fifteen 
years before by M. Barral,* whose name as well as that of INI. de 
Laguillaumie, the former I ntendant of Corsica, is carved on one of 

* M. Rarral, an engineer in the navy, travelled in Corsica in 1784 and 
1785, and published a description of the island. 



MONTE-ROTONDO. 23 1 



«'-the stones, with the date 1785, and we admired at our leisure the 

magnificent scene which lay beneath and around us. 

• The point on which we were standing, whose elevation, accord- 

S'Hing to the * Almuaire du Bureau des Longitudes,' is 2672 yards 

?'^-above the level of the sea, is situated almost in the exact centre of 

the island, if we exclude from it the promontory of Cape Corso. 

From this spot we overlooked all the other mountains of the 

- "island, which form circular ranges round Monte-Rotondo, dimin- 

- ishing in height as they approach the seashore. A vast stretch of 
the Mediterranean lay before us ; Sardinia, the island of Elba, the 

■ -coasts of Italy with all their little scattered isles, and no doubt we 
-could have also seen the coasts of Spain and France, but for the 
clouds which obscured the horizon in their direction. 

The highest ranges of the island, next to Monte-Rotondo, are 
those of Monte-Cinto to the north-west, and that of Monte d'Oro 
to the south. In the spaces between the various ranges which, as 
I have said, form a circular chain round Monte-Rotondo, we could 
perceive numerous lakes at different heights, whence flow the 
principal rivers, or, to be more accurate, the largest streams that 
water the island. 

It is one of the most remarkable physical peculiarities of Cor- 
sica that these lakes are like funnels placed in the centre of the 
mountains, and are generally circular in shape. The circumfer- 
ence of the lake that occupies what I call the arena of the Monte- 
Rotondo amphitheatre is about 700 yards. The waters are 
extremely cold, and although very clear, look almost black, 
because of the depth of the basins which contain them. Many 
fables are current among the shepherds as to their origin ; they 
are regarded as the work of a supernatural power, and many most 
improbable phenomena are attributed to them. It is said that in 
one of them, Lake Melo or Meluccio, no living being can be im- 
mersed without instantly becoming a fieshless skeleton. One of 
the shepherds who accompanied us said that although he was a 
good swimmer nothing on earth would induce him to throw him- 
self into that lake. The following particulars respecting the lakes 
nearest to our standpoint may be interesting. 

The lake of Monte-Rotondo is the source of the Vecchio, a river 
which flows through the canton of the same name into the Tavig- 
nano. 

The Restonica, or more accurately the Rivisecco, rises from a 
small lake that we had remarked on the ascent of Monte-Rotondo. 

Lake d' Ino gives birth to the Galo, the Liamone and the Tavig- 
nano. The waters appear to part at a certain point, the Galo 
flowing to the east, the Tavignano to the south-east, and the Lia- 
mone to the west. 



232 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Lake Creno supplies a tributary to the Liamone. 

Lake Melo receives part of the waters of the two last-named 
lakes, which arc situated above it, and gives out a stream which, 
joining the Rivisecco, becomes the Restonica. 

After we had contemplated these varied scenes, we decided on 
descending the mountain by the path opposite to that by which 
we had come up, that is to say, by the northern, or rather the 
north-west side of the mountain. In order to accomplish this, we 
were obliged first to get down to the edge of the lake at the bot- 
tom of the amphitheatre, and then to climb again by the only 
practicable point of the circular wall. We succeeded after much 
labour. Having once more gained the summit of the wall, at a 
point almost facing M. Barral's pyramid, we began the descent, 
and taking a northerly direction, we passed in succession, along 
very steep and difficult paths, the shores of Lake Ino, Lake Creno 
and Lake Melo. We halted at the side of the latter, whose wild 
and picturesque aspect harmonises admirably with the stern and 
terrible landscape that surrounds it. The basin in which the lake 
is enclosed is formed by a kind of natural dyke caused by landslips 
from the neighbouring mountains, and the stream which flows 
from it rushes in a cascade over this dyke. From the banks of 
Lake Melo we traced, not without a shudder, the path by which 
we had reached it. After following the borders of the lake, which 
we left on our right, we continued our descent, and at length 
arrived at the first shepherds' huts that are met with below Monte- 
Rotondo. This group of five or six cabins bears the name of the 
Grotelle. It was 5 p.m. when we reached it ; so that we had been 
walking for fifteen hours without intermission. We entered one 
of the cabins, intending to remain until the morrow, but during 
the night we were overtaken by a storm which obliged us to quit 
our place of shelter in order to cross the neighbouring stream, as 
it had in a^ew hours swollen to such an extent that it would have 
been impossible for us to have crossed it next morning. Having 
escaped this danger, we set out at daybreak for Corta, and arrived 
there on the 14th Fructidor (September i). On the following day 
I started for Orezza, journeying through the Canton of Rostino 
and that of Ampugnano. This part of Corsica is fertile and richly 
wooded ; the chestnut-trees especially are very fine, and furnish a 
large portion of the people's food. Orezza is celebrated for its 
mineral waters. Its inhabitants are the most industrious in Cor- 
sica ; it is the only part where there are any manufactories.* Alter 

* Tan-yards and manufactories of wooden utensils. In the stream 
flowine^ just below the village are rocks which contain the jasper known 
as />;■/ cU Corse. 



A MORESCA. 233 



Staying one day at Orezza, and inspecting the hospital I had 
established for the soldiers sent there for the mineral baths, 1 pro- 
ceeded to Cervione, the chief town of the Canton of Campoloro, 

On this excursion to the centre of Corsica, which I had not 
visited during my first mission, I was in general well received by 
the inhabitants, and allowing for what was merely formal and for 
the flattery usually offered to official personages, I thought I could 
detect some signs of real affection for me on the part of the peo- 
ple. A curious fete that was given in my honour at Cervione 
contributed perhaps to impress me with this conviction. Fetes of 
this kind are peculiar to that part of the country ; the inhabitants 
take great delight in them, but they occur only on extraordinary 
occasions of public rejoicing. 

These fetes are called Morescas. The remembrance of the wars 
between the Corsicans and the Moors, who formerly devastated the 
country and forced the inhabitants to remove their villages from 
the plain to the mountains, was probably the origin of a kind of 
dramatic representation of the events of that warfare. The very 
derivation of the name justifies this supposition, and as the details 
of the spectacle are rather curious, I shall pause a moment here, 
to recall them. 

The conquest of Jerusalem had been chosen as the subject of 
the Moresca that was represented in my honour, and Tasso' s poem 
was its framework. 

The scene of the Moresca had been skilfully selected. At a 
short distance from Cervione was a hill whose gende slope formed 
a natural amphitheatre, and commanded the space where the piece 
was to be represented. On this hill were the spectators. Oppo- 
site, to the east, w'as a view of the sea. 

On a wide esplanade below the hill there was on one side a 
camp composed of several tents, and on the other the representa- 
tion of the city of Jerusalem. The camp was occupied by the 
French, the city by Turks. Godfrey's tent and the interior of 
Aladdin's palace were so arranged that the spectators could see and 
hear all that took place in one or the other. The space between 
the city and the camp was the scene of the various combats and 
other events that were successively represented. 

To the left of the camp was a wooden tower constructed by the 
Christians to batter the town. 

The drama opened with a prologue, well and feelingly recited 
by one of the actors. It described the subject of the play and the 
arrangement of the stage. This prologue was quite in the style of 
Greek tragedy. 

Then the drama began, and the whole of Tasso' s poem, from 
the appearance of the Angel to Godfrey, to the assault made on 



234 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Jerusalem, was put on the stage, with the exception only of the 
episode of Armida, which was suppressed. But that of Olindo 
and Sofronia, the burning of the tower by Argando and Clorinda, 
the death of the female warrior, the adventures of Erminiaand the 
embassy of Alcte and Argando were represented. The dialogue, 
in the purest Italian, was animated and, on the whole, well ren- 
dered by the actors. Some verses of Tasso had been added, but 
not many. The costumes were accurate, the Christians could be 
easily distinguished from the Moors ; the former wore the costume 
of our ancient paladins and were arrayed entirely in white ; the 
Moors wore the Asiatic dress, red, yellow and green being the 
predominating colours. 

The performance lasted nearly four hours. The piece was lis- 
tened to in profound silence, only broken by the applause of an 
immense and attentive crowd assembled from the neighbouring 
cantons. The subject seemed familiar to all the spectators, and 
was thoroughly appreciated throughout. The whole was conduct- 
ed with the greatest decorum and quietness. 

Two days afterwards I started on my return journey to Bastia, 
where I arrived on the 20th Fructidor, and where I passed the last 
days of year IX. 

In the course of the last month of year X. (October 1801) I 
learned that preliminaries of peace with England had been signed; 
I at once sent my brother, Jacques Miot, to convey the news to 
the English station at the Piombino Canal, in order to procure a 
cessation of hostilities. My message was well received, and I took 
advantage of the opening of communications with Italy to provide 
for the necessities of the island. We were threatened with an 
extreme scarcity of grain, and that greatly increased the difficulties 
of my position. Lastly, after taking the needful steps for the 
safety and victualling of the department of Golo, I left Bastia on 
the 29th' Brumaire (November 20), to return to Liamone and 
establish myself once more at Ajaccio. 

I found this part of the island perfectly tranquil. Order was 
being rc-cstablishcd on every side, and since the departure of 
General Muller the harmony between the military authority and 
my own had not been disturbed. I might therefore have reck- 
oned on a more successful issue to my mission than I had dared 
to hope for, if obstacles arising in Paris had not been thrown in 
the way of my most desirable measures. My life was passed in 
perpetual conflict, and I spent more time in defending myself 
against attacks from without than I required to devote to all the 
details of internal administration. 

About four months after my return to Liamone I learned two 
pieces of news equally important, although of a verj' different 



THE CONCORDAT. 235 



kind. The one announced the conclusion of a definitive peace 
with England, signed at Amiens on 4th Germinal, year X. (March 
25, 1802) ; the other, the adoption of a law to restore public wor- 
ship, framed in conformity with the Concordat concluded between 
the French Republic and the Holy See. * The first event caused 
me unmixed joy ; not so the second. In proportion as religious 
tolerance and liberty for each individual to worship the Divinity in 
his own way was a gain, did the renewal of the former relations 
with Rome, the recognition of a foreign arbiter in matters of faith, 
and above all, the pomp with which the Government celebrated 
this return to former things, seem to me matter for alarm to men 
of clear judgment, who dreaded, as one of the greatest scourges 
that can afflict a nation, the readmission of religion and the minis- 
ters of religion into the political order. It was, indeed, easy to 
foresee that all the power of Bonaparte would not suffice to keep 
the dangerous auxiliaries he was accepting within the narrow 
bounds to which he believed he was restricting them, and the re - 
suit has proved that when reverses came upon him he had no more 
implacable enemies than those priests to whom he had restored so 
dangerous an influence over society. But at the time when Bona- 
parte took this perilous step, he was convinced that of all religions 
the Catholic was that most favourable to the arbitrary power to 
which he aspired, and that in the pulpit and the confessional he 
should find powerful defenders of his system, and teachers of a 
passive obedience to his advantage. He shut his eyes, therefore, 
to all other considerations, and looked on the restoration of 
religion as a necessary step for reaching supreme authority. He 
failed to attach an ungrateful clergy to himself, while he alienated 
many adherents, and though I was stationed at a very isolated 
point, I had ample means of convincing myself of these truths. 
Notwithstanding the attachment of the Corsicans in general to the 
Catholic Faith, its unexpected restoration in France caused very 
little sensation in the island. The ceremonial with which I had 
the new law promulgated, the Te Deum and solemn masses, pro- 
duced but small effect. The keen instinct of the Corsicans led 
them to divine that this proceeding of the First Consul was not to 
be attributed to an intimate conviction of the excellence of Catho- 
licity, but to designs of greater depth. Thus my position was not 
altered, either for the better or for the worse, by an event which 
had such importance in the interior of France. 

In fact I soon discovered that Corsica was a country in which 

* The Concordat had been signed in Paris, on July 15, 1801, and rat- 
ified by the Pope on the i6th of August. The organic laws of the Con- 
cordat adopted by the Tribunate and the Legislative Body are of the 
i6th Germinal, year X. (April 6, 1802). 



236 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Bonajxirtc, although bom there, would have met with the most 
unwilling acquiescence in the executions of his plans, and had all 
the departments of France been animated with the same spirit as 
Golo and Liamone, his rapid elevation might have encountered 
greater obstacles. When the decision of the Second and Third 
Consuls, that the people should be consulted on the question, 
" Shall Napoleon I3onaparte be Consul for life?" reached me, I 
hastened to proclaim it, and to open registries where every inhab- 
itant was to record his vote. But my proclamation awakened no 
enthusiastic feeling in Corsica in favour of so illustrious a compa- 
triot With the exception of the public oflficials, whose vote was 
obligatory, very little eagerness was shown, and the registers were 
filled up but slowly. There was even a considerable number of 
votes in the negative. I will quote a rather remarkable example ; 
the following vote was given by one of the inhabitants of Golo. 

" Roma non accordava che un' anno al Consolato. Dopo 
Cromwell successe il figlio di Carlo I., e si vendico. Si domanda 
la carica a vita oggi, domani ereditaria. "* 

Among the military there were also many negative votes. At 
Ajaccio, where the garrison consisted of 300 men, 66 voted 
" No ;" and among a company of 50 artillerymen, 38 voted 
against the proposal. 

Amid the mental agitation into which I was thrown by the great 
changes occurring in our institutions and by the anticipation of 
further change, I was forcibly recalled to the duties of my office. 
The general state of the country had become satisfactory, and no 
longer caused me anxiety. General Morand, who had been ap- 
pointed by the First Consul to replace Muller, had arrived, and we 
got on well together. A new Commissioner assisted me in my 
endeavours to restore order in the Finance Department, and to 
put a stop to scandalous extortions. INIy position was improved, 
yet I was-not so well satisfied with it as not to desire a change. 
In proportion as Corsica became tranquillized, I solicited my recall 
with greater persistency, and 1 tried to convince the First Consul 
that the extraordinary powers which had been confided to me were 
no longer necessary. But my representations failed, and I learned 
from my friends in Paris that there was not the least intention of 
recalling me to France. Having lost all hope, therefore, of escort- 
ing my family thither in person, I decided on sending my wife 
and children without me. The necessity of educating my children 
forbade me to keep them any longer in a country where the means 

* " Rome granted one year of Consulship only. After Cromwell, the 
son of Charles I. succeeded, and avenged him. To-day it is duration 
for life that is demanded, to-morrow it will be heredity." 



MONTE D^ORO. 237 



of instruction were lacking, and I parted from them and from my 
wife on the 14th Messidor (July 3). I then left Ajaccio in order 
to take up my residence in the highlands, at Bogognano,* about 
ten miles from the- town, where, without detriment to the despatch 
of public business, I might breathe better air than in Ajaccio. 
That town is almost uninhabitable in summer. During my stay 
in these mountains I made a second excursion for the purpose of 



exploring Monte-d'Oro. 



Excursion to Monte d'Oro. 

On the loth Thermidor (July 29) at 9 a.m. we leftf Bogognano, 
and took the high road from Ajaccio to Corta as far as the Foce di 
Guizzavona, where we left our horses, as we could make no use of 
them for the remainder of our journey. At 3 p.m. we began by 
climbing a very steep incline to the west of the tower of La Foce. 
The slope, which is rich in pasture-land, bears the name of 
Vaccaria — (a place for cows). Large numbers of these animals 
under the care of their herdsmen occupy the grazing land in sum- 
mer. 

On reaching the top of the incline, we had a view of Monte 
d'Oro, from which we were separated by a valley of considerable 
width, watered by one of the sources of the Vecchio ; the latter 
flows into the Tavignano below Corta, J The valley is shut in on 
the south by a wide col, much higher than the summit of the in- 
cline where we were standing. Our route lay towards the col, in 
order afterwards to reach the top of the mountain. We therefore 
began our descent into the valley, and then followed the course of 
the torrent, against stream, until we reached a sheepfold called the 
Posatoja. When there, we were not far from the snows that cover 
the narrow valleys, and when they melt, give birth to streams that 
flow in various directions from the col, and from the mountain 
itself. The soil on which we had walked since leaving the summit 
of the Vaccaria consists entirely of fragments of the neighbouring 

* This name is given to a group of villages, situated about three hun- 
dred fathoms above the level of the sea, on the ridge of the mountains, 
south of the Col de la Foce di Guizzavona. 

f I was accompanied on this excursion by MM. Demony and Laroche, 
members of my administration, by two shepherds who acted as guides, 
and by two servants. 

:j: The Vecchio, as I have already said, takes its rise in the lake of 
Monte-Rotondo ; but it receives a tributary in the waters flowing to the 
east of Monte d'Oro. Those flowing to the west and south enter the 
Liamone and the Gravone. 



238 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

mountains, whose antiquity is proved by the dry and isolated 
fissures in them. 

The summits of these mountains are studded with sharp pinna- 
cles of varied height and eccentric form. They are known to the 
shepherds by various names, such as the Fraie, the Capuccino, &c. 
Their broken fragments, over which we wended our way, consist 
generally of quartz, steatite, feldspar, and mica. The mixture of 
these four substances produces various combinations, some of 
which are remarkably brilliant. Rock crystals are also met with in 
the fissures of the granite, and especially in a steep, narrow valley 
rising from north to south almost to the top of Monte d'Oro, and 
which bears the name of Canale del crisiallo. At the time I speak 
of it was full of snow and quite unapproachable. The shepherds 
can only enter it in September, where they find crystals of a fair 
size, which they sell in the towns. The vegetation of the valley 
we had traversed in order to reach the Posaioja is very fine. Beech 
trees and some varieties of pine attain a great height. 

We passed part of the night at the sheepfolds of Posaioja. The 
cold was bitter. At 2 a.m. we resumed our journey by the light 
of torches of a resinous wood, the Pinus pmaster, and commenced 
the ascent of the col which closes in the valley that we had tra- 
versed the day before. We reached its summit at 4 a.m. Vegeta- 
tion had ceased, and according to my calculation we were at a 
height of about 1800 yards above the level of the sea. The path 
was becoming very difficult, on account of the loose stones which 
rolled about under our feet. We kept as much as possible at the 
top of the col, in order to reach the eastern ridge of IMonte d'Oro, 
which we climbed by making our way round it spirally. After a 
fatiguing march of three-quarters of an hour, we found ourselves 
separated from the summit of the mountain only by a mass of 
rock, which stood out in an almost hemispheric shape. Our difii- 
culties HOW increased. In certain spots we were obliged to allow 
ourselves to be carried on the shoulders of our guides. Lastly, 
after much labour, four of us, including myself, stood on the higli- 
est point of all. The others had dropped behind at places more 
or less distant from our journey's end. 

It was 5.30 A. M- when we found ourselves on the top of Monte 
d'Oro.* The sun was beginning to shine on one ol the fairest 
scenes of nature, which although greatly resembling that I had 
beheld a year before at Monte- Rotondo, was not the less impres- 
sive. The whole of Corsica and all its mountains lay at our feet, 
with the exception of l^Ionte-Rotondo, whose superior height was 

* The difference in height between Monte-Rotondo and Monte d'Oro 
is but twenty yards. 



MONTE D'ORO. 239 



scarcely perceptible, of Monte Cinto and the p^k of Orezza at the 
same height as ourselves. Beyond this group of mountains piled 
up, so to speak, one on the other, I descried on the east the plains 
of Aleria and Fiumorbo, the pools of Urbino and Diana, the 
course of the Tavignano, then the sea, the islands of Monte-Cristo 
and Elba, the coast of Italy, Montenero and the Maremma of 
Tuscany ; on the north the island of Capraja, and in the back- 
ground the Apennines of the Genoa Riviera ; on the west the bar- 
ren mountains of the Niolo, the sea of France and the coasts of 
my native land. Towards the south 1 could perceive the Gulfs of 
Sagona, of Ajaccio, of Valinco, the island of Asinara, and Sardi- 
nia hanging over the sea like a huge cloud. 

After enjoying this delightful landscape for some time, I em- 
ployed myself in an examination of the spot on which I stood, 
and of the configuration of the mountain. 

Monte d'Oro much resembles Monte-Rotondo in shape, that is 
to say, it also is like an amphitheatre, of which the arena is formed 
by a lake about a hundred fathoms in diameter. But the destruc- 
tion of the walls is much more advanced, and the landslips are 
more considerable than at Monte-Rotondo. Towards the west 
and south, in fact, these walls are almost entirely destroyed ; only 
a few low peaks are standing, whose tops are already crumbling 
away, and which exist but as witnesses to the ancient shape of the 
mountain. Our own standpoint was on one of these pinnacles, 
higher than the others and composed of fragments of broken rock 
heaped up and evidently broken off from some higher pinnacle 
which has entirely disappeared. All these fragments are of the 
same nature as those we saw in the valleys or on the lower cols ; 
there is no sign of volcanic or calcareous origin, no trace of shells, 
nor any mark of the former presence of water nor of the action of 
fire, but everywhere an appearance of decay and decrepitude ; no 
fertile earth, unless such as is brought by the winds, and collected 
in the fissures of the rock, where it is increased by ihe decay of 
the vegetable growths that it supports. The height of Monte 
d'Oro is estimated in the ' Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes' 
at 2652 yards. At the top of the mountain the temperature was 
cold, but not unbearably so ; but respiration was rather difficult. 
A great part of the lake was still frozen, and the ice covered with 
snow. * 

The only inhabitant of these wild regions is the moufflon or 

* There had been no ice the previous year at Monte-Rotondo, although 
it is higher, but we made our excursion thither at the end of August, 
and it seems that at that season only the snow disappears. It lies all the 
year through on the north side of Monte d'Oro, on account of its partic- 
ular shape and the depth of its crevasses. 



240 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



musmon [Oin's Ammon). We saw several of them skipping along 
and bounding over precipices uith wonderful agility. In such 
elevated regions these animals feed principally on the sheep-plan- 
tain (/'/(///A/^'^f? oiuna), which grows abundantly between the stones, 
and which the shepherds have named Erba muffrina. The vege- 
table products are much the same as those I remarked on Monte- 
Rotondo, and I recognised with pleasure the Xeranthemuvifrigidum 
creeping over the rocks at the foot of Monte d'Oro. 

We took the same path for our return that we had taken to 
ascend the mountain, and reached the Posatoja before noon. At 
4 o'clock we arrived at the Foce di Guizzavona, where our horses 
were in waiting for us, and we were back at Bogognano the same 
day, the nth Therm idor, at 8 p.m. 

Immediately on my return from this excursion, one of the most 
interesting that I made in Corsica, I received the Senatus-Consul- 
tum of the 14th and 17th Thermidor, conferring on the P'irst 
Consul power for life, and modifying various parts of the Constitu- 
tion of year VIII. These were the preludes to greater changes, 
already under consideration, but which it was not as yet safe to 
attempt, so hazardous was the word ' ' heredity, " and heredity alone 
was wanting to complete the conversion of the Republic into a 
Monarchy. I made solemn proclamation of these new decrees ; 
a popular fete was held at Ajaccio ; I gave a ball and all went off 
decorously, but the public displayed neither joy nor satisfaction. 
There was, on the whole, more surprise than enthusiasm. People 
knew not how to reconcile this surprising rise with their still recent 
recollections of Bonaparte's family, whom all the inhabitants of 
Ajaccio had known in a rank so far removed from their present 
greatness. The old proverb, " No man is a prophet in his own 
country," appeared to me in this case to receive a fresh confirma- 
tion. But at the same time the feelings of envy that were exhibit- 
ed in Napoleon's own country* at the very time when his fortune 
was so greatly in the ascendant, gave me opportunities of acquir- 
ing some information on the origin of his family, and I did not 
neglect them. I will set down in this place the results of my 
inquiries, made in the very birthplace of Napoleon, among his own 
countrymen and either rivals or friends of his family. 

The Bonapartes descend from a noble Florentine family. Dur- 
ing the troublous times of the Republic one of their ancestors with- 
drew to San i\Iiniato, f a small town ten leagues from Plorence. 

* The name of Napoleon, which is a common baptismal name in Cor- 
sica, appeared for the first time in the Senalus-Consultum of the 14th 
Thermidor. 

\ One Jacopo Buonaparte wrote an account of the sack of Rome in 
1527. He was present, and collected the particulars day by day. On the 



RECALL OF THE AUTHOR. 24 1 

The last descendant of this branch of the family was a Canon, who 
was still living at San Miniato, and whom Bonaparte visited when, 
in the year IV. , he went to Florence. 

Another Bonaparte settled at Sarzano in the State of Genoa, and 
from this branch proceed the Bonapartes of Ajaccio. They pos- 
sessed some landed property there, and have always been regarded 
as distinguished both by birth and fortune. Many years after the 
union of Corsica with France, which took place in 1769, Charles 
Bonaparte was sent to Paris, as deputy from the nobles ; and one 
of his daughters, Elisa Bonaparte, was educated at St. Cyr, which 
leaves no doubt as to their noble birth. M. Charles Bonaparte 
was a very handsome man. He died at Montpellier in 1785, after 
a singular illness, of which I have already spoken. 

As to the women ; the mother of the First Consul, Madame 
Laetitia Bonaparte, whose beauty was most remarkable, is a Ram- 
olino, a family of Ajaccio, which claims to be connected with the 
Ornanos, although it is not considered to be noble. The mother 
of Madame Laetitia Bonaparte was by birth a Pietra-Santa, a family 
of very moderate rank at Sarteno. On the death of Ramolino, 
her first husband, she had married a Swiss, named Fesch, whose 
family held an honourable position at Bale, where they were estab- 
lished as bankers. By her second marriage she had one son, at 
that time Archbishop of Lyons and afterwards Cardinal, and con- 
sequently step-brother of Madame Laetitia Bonaparte, and uncle 
on the mother's side of the First Consul and of his brothers and 
sisters. One of Madame Laetitia' s sisters had married a Paravicini, 
who, during my residence in Corsica, was Commissioner for the 
Navy at Ajaccio, and was, on the female side, uncle by marriage 
to Napoleon, Lastly, the son of one of Madame Laetitia' s brothers 
was at the period of which I speak director of the public taxes. 
He was first cousin to Napoleon. This Ramolino was afterwards 
member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1822 and 1823. 

After the fetes at Ajaccio in honour of the Life-Consulship and of 
the new institutions that the Senatus-Consultum of the 14th and 
1 7th Thermidor had introduced in France, I returned to Bogog- 
nano, to remain there during the rest of the hot season. I had 
resigned myself at last to the continued exercise of the laborious 
duties of my office, for the Paris authorities had refused to grant 
me even the short holiday I had applied for. But at the very 
moment that I gave up all hope of returning to France, an un- 
expected incident recalled me thither. In a report of the Minis- 
ter of Finance on the measures I had taken relative to taxation in 



title page of his book, which was published at Cologne in 1756, he is de- 
scribed as Gentiluomo Samminiaiese. 



242 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

certain cantons, in ^vhich I had remitted arrears that they were 
unable to pay, those measures were represented as an excessive en- 
croachment on the powers delegated to me, and the First Consul 
was induced to bring my mission to a close. He replaced the 
two departments of Corsica under the rule of the Constitution on 
the ist Brumaire, year XI. (Oct. 23, 1802). Thus from a 
moment's ill-humour I obtained what had been denied to my most 
pressing entreaties. At the first news of a determination so 
ardently desired by me, I hastened to put all the affairs of my 
administration in order, and to make preparations for my journey. 

Before taking a final leave of Corsica, I shall give a sketch of 
the state of the island at the time of my departure. 

On my arrival there in the month of Germinal, year IX., I had 
found part of Corsica in a condition of internal disturbance, and 
the roads infested by men who, having incurred the penalties of 
the law, had sought safety in the mountains and who fell suddenly 
on travellers or solitar}^ soldiers. I left the country tranquil, its 
roads safe, and means of communication restored. The Extraor- 
dinary' Criminal Tribunal that I had established had answered my 
expectations. Offences against the laws had been repressed or 
punished. There was entire confidence in the administration, for 
its impartiality was well known. But this very impartiality had 
injured many private interests, and had raised up enemies ior me 
who were sufficiently powerful to create serious difficulties. I had 
been driven to take extraordinary proceedings against the General 
in command of the Division, and the progress of improvement had 
been partly obstructed. However, taking things on the whole, 
the state of the country was ameliorated. But in order that the 
small amount of good I had been able to effect, might become 
consolidated and might penetrate the mass of the people and affect 
their customs, time and perseverance in the use of similar means 
were needed. In that respect, therefore, I must own that I left 
Corsica in the same state in which I had found it on both my 
missions there. Civilization had made no perceptible progress.* 
The same spirit of revenge and personal enmity prevailed. I had 
often been obliged to summon the chiefs of families divided by 
hereditary feuds into my presence, and to act as arbitrator, in order 

* The following affords a proof of this. The road-inakin;? I had un- 
dertaken in Corsica was undoubtedly a great benefit to the inhabitants, 
who were employed on the works and were well paid. The engineer at 
the head of the works in the neighbourhood of Bogognano had sent to 
Ajaccio for wheels on which to remove the beams intended for the 
construction of a bridge. These wheels were left in the road, and during 
the night the workmen set fire to the wooden spokes in order to get the 
iron, which they carried off and hid in the mountains. Does not this 
read like an anecdote of South-Sea savages ? 



THE VENDETTA. 243 



to establish a kind of treaty of peace between them, and I had not 
always succeeded. Acts of private vengeance had been perpetrated 
more than once, under my very eyes, and in spite of all my en- 
deavours I was powerless to punish such crimes. I will give an in- 
stance of this, so as to afford some idea of the vindictive spirit of 
the inhabitants, and of the light in which they themselves regarded 
such acts. 

On the day of my arrival at Bogognano, 1 7th Messidor, year 
IX. , a private vendetta cost two men their lives. About eight years 
previously an inhabitant of that canton had killed one of his neigh- 
bours, the father of two children. When these children had 
reached their sixteenth or seventeenth year, and were consequently 
of an age to avenge their father, they left their own part of the 
country to watch for the murderer, who was on his guard and 
dared not venture far from the village. 

A few days before my arrival they had been seen in the neigh- 
bourhood, and on the very day of my arrival at Bogognano, they 
had come upon their enemy playing at cards under a tree, at a 
short distance from the house in which I intended taking up my 
residence. The youths fired four times and killed their man, but 
one shot struck and killed another man, who was sleeping a few 
yards away. The latter was a near kinsman of the young brothers, 
who, after committing the deed, disappeared, no one making any 
attempt to secure them. 

This tragedy made no sensation whatever in the country. The 
inhabitants, in fact, appeared pleased rather than shocked by it. 
They told me that it was fortunately the last vendetta due in Bo- 
gognano, and that now that it had been accomplished, there was 
no fear of further disturbance to their tranquillity. The families 
on both sides considered the reprisal just and according to rule, 
and no one interfered.* The women took possession of their 

* The degree of kindred in which the vendetta is of obligation is reg- 
ulated by ancient customs, and there are instances of discussions on the 
point between two individuals belonging to families at variance with each 
other, which have ended in a friendly manner when one has been able to 
prove to the other that he was not within the degree of kindred in which 
legitimate vengeance could be taken. In addition to the sanguinary code 
on the subject, there is a curious feeling of respect for religious preju- 
dices. I am indebted to M. Galeazzini, Prefect of Liamone, for a re- 
markable anecdote bearing on this subject. An inhabitant of the village 
of Peri comes across a kinsman of one of his enemies, engaged in dig- 
ging in his field. He thinks the opportunity a favourable one, and, raising 
his gun, he calls out to his man, " Now then, say your In inamis I I must 
kill you !" " No," replies the other, " 1 will not say it ; you have no 
right to kill me, I am not your enemy." And they begin to discuss the 
degree of relationship. At last, the inhabitant of Peri, seeing that he 
cannot induce his adversary to say his In manus, lowers his gun and de- 



244 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

dead, wept over them, buried them according to the custom of the 
countr}-, and there was an end of it.* 

Nevertheless I wrote on that same day to Ajaccio, and gave the 
most stringent orders for the pursuit of the two murderers ; but all 
my endeavours to find them were in vain, and I thus became con- 
vinced of my powerlessness to remedy an evil which was continually 
strengthened by the strongest prejudices, and by a deeply rooted 
though mistaken point of honour. What can be done, what can be 
attempted with men who gladly incur certain death in order to 
carry out a vefidc/hi, in their eyes not only a righteous one, but a 
duty from which the lapse of twenty or even of fifty years does not 
free them, and also a debt to be handed down from generation to 
generation .? What argument will avail with these men of passion- 
ate nature, who look daily into the chest that contains their clothes 
at the blood-stained "handkerchief of him whom they are destined 
to avenge } This silent but ever-present proof of the murder, 
which it is their duty to punish, is a terrible witness not to be re- 
moved until vengeance is accomplished ! What can be done with 
men who from childhood have accustomed themselves to the use 
of firearms, only for the sake of possessing an unfailing means of 
keeping the oath they have sw^orn to their mother, to follow to the 
death the enemy who made her a widow and her children orphans .^f 
The spread of education, an increase of population protected by 
salutary laws, the introduction of civilization into the interior, 
speedy justice, an impartial Government, and, above all, Time 

parts, willing rather to miss an opportunity of revenge than to commit a 
mortal sin by killing a man not within the prescribed degrees, and who 
had not said his prayers. 

* The women of Bogognano watched the corpses all night, uttering the 
most doleful wailings. They followed them the next morning to the 
cemetery^ walking two and two, and rending the air with their lamenta- 
tions. All wore veils of blue stufif, called vcleri, which is worn as a pet- 
ticoat and then brought over the head. Some men supported those whose 
grief appeared the deepest, but with an air of indifference that made the 
whole thing seem acting, or, at least, a vain ceremony. 

t Corsicans are very expert in the use of firearms, and have a kind of 
veneration for a first-rate shot. The following anecdote was related to 
me ; if it be true— and I cannot vouch for it — it would show to what an 
extent Corsicans carry their admiration for that accomplishment. A 
man is informed that one of his sons has just been assassinated in conse- 
quence of a family feud. He proceeds to the spot and recognizes his 
son. But on examining the body he perceives that the three balls with 
which the gun was loaded have all entered the heart. Every other feel- 
ing yields to admiration for such supreme skill, and he exclaims enthu- 
siastically. " Ma vedete, che gran colpo !" * These are almost the words 
of Prexaspes to Cambyses in Herodotus. " My lord, the god himself 
would not have aimed so true !" 

> " But see ! what a grand shot I" 



THE VENDETTA. 245 



itself, can alone alter these barbarous customs. Very few of those 
means were at my command, and during the course of my mission, 
I had the pain of witnessing the evil without having the power to 
eradicate it. It was with satisfaction, therefore, that I took leave 
of a country where it was so difficult to do good and so easy to do 
evil. 

Before embarking, I once more visited the beautiful mountains 
of Foce di Guizzavona, and those in the neighbourhood of Bo- 
gognano, which I had already explored with great interest. During 
this final excursion I enjoyed the spectacle of a storm, whose 
splendour has remained graven on my memory as a solemn token 
of farewell from those wild regions. I returned late in the evening 
to Bogognano, and proceeded next day to Ajaccio, where I em- 
barked for Marseilles. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Author returns to Paris — His reception by the First Consul — 
Monarchical customs and stiict etiquette with which the First Consul 
surrounded himself— Joseph Bonaparte imparts the secret designs and 
great projects of the First Consul to the Author— Lord Whitworth, the 
English Ambassador, in Paris — General Moieau is feted at the Ministry 
of War — Government-mourning on the occasion of the death of General 
Leclerc — New coinage with the effigy of the First Consul— Lavish 
endowment of the Senate— The political relations between France and 
England become strained — Irritation of the First Consul with the Eng- 
lish Press — Conversation between Bonaparte and Lord Whitworth — 
Colonel Sebastiani's Report, published in the Moniteur — The King's 
speech to Parliament is hostile to France — Effect produced by it in 
Paris — Progress of the crisis and of the negotiations, official and secret, 
prior to the definitive rupture between France and England — Simulta- 
neous departure of Lord Whitworth from Paris and of General An- 
dreossy from London — Appendix : Lord Whitworth's Despatch of Feb- 
ruary 21, 1S03, to Lord Hawkesbury. 

I EMBARKED, on the 2d Brumaire, year XL (October 24, 1802), 
on board La Fortune, Captain Riouffe. Contrary winds obliged 
us to anchor first at the Isle of Porteros, one of the Hyeres, where 
I stayed two days ; and after\vards at Ciotat, a small town in the 
Department of Var. The bad weather continued, and prevented 
our voyage by sea, so I resolved on proceeding to Marseilles by 
land. 1 arrived there on the 9th Brumaire (October 31), remained 
two da}^, waiting for my luggage, which I had left on board at 
Ciotat, and reached Paris on the 21st Brumaire (November 12). 

It was not altogether without apprehension that I found myself 
once more in the capital. The intrigues against me during the 
course of my mission, and the somewhat sudden recall that had 
brought it to a close, made mc anticipate an unfavourable recep- 
tion. But it was not so. Josej)!! Bonaparte, whom I saw first, 
welcomed me most cordially. Not only was he free from the 
I)rejudices against me which various members of his family had 
manifested, but he had always warmly defended my motives and 
my conduct. He reassured me as to the feelings of the First 
Consul, who, he undertook to say, had more correctly than any 
other person apjireciated the difliculties of my position, and whom 
I should find quite satisfied with my discharge of its duties. 



THE author's favourable RECEPTION. 247 

Bonaparte was absent at the time of my arrival in Paris, and he 
did not return to St. Cloud, his habitual residence in autumn, 
until the 2 2d Brumaire (November 13). * The following day at 
noon he received the Council of State, and I joined my colleagues 
in order to be present at that audience. His first words were 
pleasant. He told me, jestingly, that I had got into trouble with 
the Ministers ; that Ministers did not like Administrators-General 
who acted on their own ideas, and that I must make it up with 
them. When he had finished, and heard what I had to say in 
reply, I approached the Ministers who were present, and remarked 
with pleasure that the favourable reception just accorded to me by 
the great man had already half-effected our reconciliation. Hands 
were stretched out to me, I was embraced, and I might believe 
myself restored to favour. Another and more serious conversation 
on the mission I had just accomplished, and on Corsica generally, 
ensued. Some points of my conduct were discussed ; the First 
Consul asserted that I had been too kind, that I had leaned too 
much to conciliation, and that a little severity would have done 
better. On the whole, he did justice to my intentions, and to the 
principles of equity and impartiality on which I had acted. In 
short, I had every reason to be pleased ; and, indeed, to be re- 
proached with an excess of kindness and moderation in the exer- 
cise of an administration for which I had received such elastic 
powers, was praise rather than criticism. The Consuls informed 
me that I was to return to the Council of State in the Section of 
the Interior, and as that was the sole reward I coveted, I had noth- 
ing more to ask for. 

I was now at ease concerning my own future, and I began to 
look about me, and to observe the new aspect of things with 
astonishment. What changes during an absence of less than two 
years ! Monarchical customs, which were beginning to appear 
when I left Paris, had extended in every direction, and what little 
had remained of austere Republican forms at the time of my de- 
parture from the capital had now entirely disappeared. Gorgeous 
liveries, sumptuous garments, similar to those worn in the reign 
of Louis XV. , had succeeded to the military fashions, which, dur- 
ing the Revolution, had been adopted even in the dress of civilians. 
No more boots, sabres, or cockades, these were replaced by tights 
and silk stockings, buckled-shoes, dress-swords, and hats held 
under the arm. All this, however, was as in an early stage, and 
the awkwardness of some persons not yet accustomed to these 
Court fashions, together with certain oddities in the dress of others, 
who still retained traces of the fashions they had just given up, 

* He had been inspecting the Seine Inf^rieure and Calvados, and the 
sea-coasts of those two departments. 



248 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

formed an extmordinan' spectacle. I was not more free from in- 
congruity tlian otiicrs, and my coat, with turned- back facings, worn 
with wliite silk stockings and a sword, shocked the educated taste 
of several of my colleagues whose costumes did not offer a similar 
contrast. Fortunately I was not singular in my offence, the P^irst 
Consul was equally subject to criticism. With a superb coat of 
violet velvet, magnificently embroidered in gold and silk, he wore 
a sword, white silk stockings, gold buckles in his shoes, and a black 
cravat ! This was certainly a serious blunder in dress ! * 

The change was still more apparent in the reality of things than 
in their outward appearance. The Tuileries and St. Cloud were 
no longer, as I had left them, the seat of Government, the abode 
of the first Magistrate of a Republic, but the Court of a Sovereign. 
Severe etiquette prevailed there ; officers attached to the person, 
prescribed honours paid to the ladies, a privileged family ; in short, 
everything except the name of Consul was monarchical, and that 
name was destined soon to disappear. 

The first impression made on me by this novel pomp and display 
was disagreeable and painful. No one could be more convinced 
than I of the necessity of surrounding the Government of a great 
nation with dignity, and even, if desired, with a certain magnifi- 
cence, but I should have wished to discern the Government through 
all this splendour, and not an individual, still less his family. 
Among all that I saw and remarked at that time, the visit of the 
great bodies of the State and of the ambassadors to INIadame Bona- 
parte impressed me most. I had presented myself with the other 
State Councillors. She rose to receive us, remained standing dur- 
ing the address of our President, thanked us for the sentiments ex- 
pressed by the Council of State, then seating herself without invit- 
ing us to do the same, carried on a conversation on ordinary topics 
for a short time, after which she again rose and dismissed us. 

A few days later I returned to St. Cloud to be present at the 
audience given every Sunday by the First Consul, or, to speak 
more accurately, I returned thither to pay my court. I found the 
members of the principal bodies of the State, and the Tribunals, 
Generals, Ministers, and Bishops, ranged in a line in the great gal- 
lery. The First Consul passed through, accompanied by his wife, 
by some members of his family, by the other two Consuls, and by 
his civil and military officers, on his way to a sung mass, f On 

* Bonaparte rarely wore a civilian costume, he appeared generally in 
the uniform of a Colonel of Grenadiers, or of the Guard's light infantry. 
I have several times seen him preside at the Council of State in the uni- 
form of a Councillor. 

f Although the ancient Gregorian Calendar was not yet restored, Sun- 
day was religiously observed after the re-establishment of. Divine worship. 



POSITION OF JOSEPH BONAPARTE. 249 

his return, he paused in the gallery, spoke to a great many per- 
sons, received petitions, and then withdrew to his private apart- 
ments. All was regulated by the most punctilious etiquette, and 
the Second and Third Consuls were as subservient to it as the rest 
of the crowd ; they were present in the gallery, not as colleagues 
of the First Consul, but as courtiers. They had no distinguishing 
suite, and could only be recognized by their dress ; whereas Bona- 
parte, surrounded by aides-de-camp, by Prefects of the Palace, and 
officers of his guard, occupied the principal position. Thus the 
slight semblance of divided authority had already almost entirely 
disappeared, and those very men who, at first, had been called to 
a share in it, were now consenting to reduce that share, externally 
at least, to nothing. 

But I have said enough on this subject. I have pointed out the 
decisive steps that the First Consul had taken during my absence 
towards the end which he soon afterwards attained, and I have also 
recorded the docility with which the public lent themselves to his 
purposes. 

On my return from Corsica, my former intimacy with Joseph 
Bonaparte became yet closer, and from that period dates the con- 
fidence he has never ceased to repose in me and the friendship 
which still exists between us, notwithstanding the distance that 
divides us. To that friendship, to that confidence, I owe my ac- 
quaintance with many secret facts which throw a strong light on 
the hidden springs that worked that marvellous drama, so ephemeral 
when compared with its grandeur, of which astonished Europe was 
for twelve years the silent spectator. The greater part of what I 
am about to relate had its origin in my almost daily interviews at 
this period with Joseph Bonaparte. The lapse of years, and the 
rapid fall of the Man who created and then destroyed his own 
power, bring back many details into the domain of History that 
have ceased to be secrets ; I give these particulars, therefore, with- 
out fear of misconstruction of my motive. 

My earlier conversations with Joseph Bonaparte turned at first 
on his own position, and afterwards led to an exposition of the 
projects then entertained by the First Consul. As it is easy to trace 
the plans he had formed, the means which he proposed to himself 
to employ, and the reflections which such bold designs called up 
in our minds, I will simply transcribe the resume of these conver- 
sations made in my note-book on the very days on which they 
were held. 

After expressing to Joseph Bonaparte my surprise at the 
position* in which I found him, I said, ' ' I had expected to see 

* Joseph Bonaparte was at that time simply a senator. 



250 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

you invested with greater power and influence. I thought that 
you would have aspired to personal distinction. And, in fact, 
since the First Consul allows and even exacts such distinction for 
his wife, it follows that the members of his family, and especially 
his brothers, should enjoy it also. Yet I find you widiout rank, 
without an establishment, and without followers. The life-appoint- 
ment of the Second and 'J'hird Consuls* is an act of hostility to 
you. It gives them a present position which you have not, and 
will secure to them, at the death of your brother, a possibility 
which should always be in yoiir mind, influence that you might 
then seek in vain to obtain, and that you might bitterly regret not 
having secured. It is time, I think, for you to rouse yourself from 
this condition of insignificance, whatever may be its charm. As 
no successor to the First Consul can possibly feel himself secure 
so long as you and Lucien are in existence, nor would leave you 
in peace at Morfontaine, you ought, betimes, to prepare yourself 
to take the lead, since on your brother's death there could be no 
middle course for you between supreme power and nothingness." 
" You argue rightly," replied Joseph Bonaparte, " but like 
every one else who judges me, you start from a false premiss. 
You take for granted that the small influence I exercise and the 
obscurity of the part I play are due only to my indolent nature, 
and that I have but to overcome that, to attain to the place which, 
according to you, I ought to occupy. Undeceive yourself ; I per- 
fectly understand all the advantages I should reap by a different 
position, and if it only depended on me to make the change, I 
should certainly do it. But you do not understand my brother. 
The idea of sharing his power is so obnoxious to him, that my 
claims are as suspicious in his eyes as those of any other person, 
more so, perhaps, since they are the most plausible of any, and 
would be most readily justified by public opinion. He desires 
above all' that the need of his own existence should be so deeply 
felt, and recognised as so great a benefit, that none can look be- 
yond it without trepidation. He knows and feels that he reigns 
rather through diis idea than through either force or grati- 
tude. If to-morrow or on any other day people were to say to 
themselves, ' Here is a stable and quiet order of things ! and a 
successor who will maintain it for us is designated ; Bonaparte 
may die, we have neither change nor disturbance to fear,' — my 
brother would no longer think himself safe. I have discovered 
that such is his feeling, and he rules his conduct by it. Can you 
believe, after this, that he would suffer me to carry out the plan 

* The three Consuls had been appointed for life by the Senatus-Con- 
sultum of I7lh Theriiiidor, year X. 



JOSEPH DESCRIBES NAPOLEON. 2^1 

you advise ? and do you think that I should be strong enough to 
follow it against his consent ? Certainly not ! Thus as it is im- 
possible for me to reach the point I ought to attain, I prefer play- 
ing no part at all to undertaking an inferior one. My policy is to 
obtain praise for the moderation of my desires, for my philosophy, 
my love of repose and tranquil pleasures, and to make all the 
world believe, as you believed a moment ago, not that I cannot 
be, but that I do not choose to be more than I am at present." 

*' I should have nothing to reply to what you have just told 
me, ' ' I answered, ' ' if you really are on these terms with your 
brother. But are you not deceiving me in this, are you not trying 
to disguise the true motives of your conduct, in order to escape the 
blame you would deserve if you are acting only from indolence 
and indifference ? How can you reconcile what you have just told 
me concerning the First Consul with his special marks of regard 
when you returned from Amiens, * putting you forward to be ap- 
plauded by the public at the Opera, and offering you a place of 
honour at the Fete of the Concordat, f favours which for the most 
part you refused ?" 

" You are under the same mistake as before," said Joseph 
Bonaparte ; ' ' you persist in believing that these honours and dis- 
tmctions were offered to me in good faith. I am certain they were 
only a snare, and I was bound to avoid that. What was the aim 
of the First Consul ? To make me a mark for the envy and jeal- 
ousy of the other Consuls, of the Ministers, and of the Councillors 
of State, without affording me any means of setting their enmity at 
defiance, while at the same time he paid his debt to me. Should 
I, in fact, have had any right to complain after receiving marks of 
favour which made me, as it were, his designated successor ? 
Might not my brother have said, * What more does he want ? 
Could I have done more for him ? Is it my fault that he cannot 
keep himself where I have placed him ? ' I should thus have for- 
feited all the respect I have won by my simple and moderate be- 
haviour, without having acquired more positive power and without 
escaping, perhaps, from the ridicule which attaches to every man 
who displays a great ambition and does not justify it by his abili- 
ties. Had the First Consul sincerely desired my advancement, he 
would have taken the opportunity of promoting it on the occasion 

* Joseph Bonaparte had signed the treaty of peace with England at 
Amiens. 

f This religious fete had been celebrated at Notre Dame on 27th 
Thermidor, year X. (August 15, 1802). It had been decided that Joseph 
Bonaparte was to proceed to Notre Dame in a carriage drawn by eight 
horses ; but he declined that honour, and went with the other Councillors 
of State, 



2 52 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of the appointment of a President to the Itahan Repubhc. * True, 
he offered me that brilhant post which would have satisfied all my 
desires ; but he wanted at the same time to fetter me, to make me 
play the part that is now being played by M. de Melzi ; and I, 
who know my brother well, who know how heavy is his yoke, I 
who have always preferred a life of obscurity to that of a political 
puppet, naturally refused it. I made known to him, however, the 
conditions on which I would have accepted it, and you shall judge 
for yourself of my views in proposing them. I required that 
Piedmont should be united to the Italian Republic ; that I should 
be at liberty to restore the principal fortresses ; that the French 
troops, and especially General Murat, should withdraw from the 
Republican territory. Had I obtained these concessions I should 
have been really master. I should have been dependent on France 
so far as the Cabinet and political relations were concerned, but 
not materially. My brother, whose ambition is boundless, would 
by no means consent to my conditions, and caused himself to be 
appointed President. 

" You do not know him," added Joseph Bonaparte ; " he is a 
wonderful man, and each day I am more and more amazed at the 
depth, the extent and the boldness of his projects. Believe me, 
he has not yet reached the goal of his ambition." 

" I do not doubt it, " I replied ; ' ' after hearing what you have 
just told me, and without attempting to penetrate into all his de- 
signs, it is not difficult to see what he aspires to, and that the 
founding a dynasty, the empire of Europe, shared at most with 
Russia and established on the ruins of Austria and England, are 
the aims of all his enterprises. But for the realisation of his plans 
he must have a son, and Madame Bonaparte cannot give him a 
child." 

" If Fat6 wills these things to be," returned Joseph Bonaparte, 
** they will be. Madame Bonaparte may die ; by a second mar- 
riage my brother may have children, and that very marriage may 
be one means for carrying out the rest of the plan." 

** But do you believe," I interrupted, " that he will wait to re- 
ceive from the hands of Fate and from the chance of an improbable 
death that which it would be so easy for him to (.)btain at once ? 
I do not say that your brother ought to annul his marriage, as has 
been suggested, on the ground that it was not blessed by the 
Church, though it seems to me that the First Consul intended to 
hold that argument in rcscne when he refused to yield this point 

* The Cisalpine Republic had taken that name in the Senatus-Con- 
sultum that Bonaparte demanded and over which he had presided the 
year before at Lyons. M. de Melzi, of whom I have already spoken, 
then received the title of Vice-President of the Italian Republic. 



BONAPARTE'S MARRIAGE. 253 

to the prayer of his wife, who so ardently desired a reHgious sane 
tion of their union. * But can he not bring the nation itself to 
demand a second marriage in order to ensure an heir ? If he were 
to hint at this, you would see how soon his hint would be acted 
on. His experience of our pliability and docility must make him 
feel assured of success. 

" Now is it to your interest that such an event should take 
place ? I think so ; and, contrary to the opinion of the majority 
of your friends, I believe it would be advantageous to you. Re- 
member that from the moment the First Consul becomes the 
father of a son you are that son's natural guardian, and that to 
you alone can he confide the care of the child ; that thus relieved 
from any fear of personal ambition on your part, he would bequeath 
to you all the necessary powers for the maintenance of the rights of 
the heir of his name and greatness. You would thus obtain undis- 
puted influence during the lifetime of the First Consul, and after his 
death you would become Regent, if his successor were still under 
age. It is, on the contrary, for the interest of the other Consuls 
that your brother should not contract a second marriage. With- 
out perhaps forming any very clear idea of their position after his 
death, they must perceive that in such an event, if he left no child, 
there would be a better chance for them, than if an heir to the 
name of Bonaparte, with you to defend and protect him, were to 
appeal to the gratitude of the nation, and to be backed up by 
those natural ideas of hereditary right which it has retained, and 
to which it would willingly again assent." 

The progress of the monarchical spirit may be estimated by the 
foregoing conversation ; there was no longer any shrinking from 
the complete consequences of an hereditary system. The words 
'' Divorce," and *' Regency," with all their meaning and all that 
they may imply, were listened to without alarm, the only difficulty 
was the mode of execution. From that time forth a Princess was 
sought for among the most illustrious reigning houses in Europe, 
to whom his policy or his vanity might direct the fancy of the new 
master of France, and to Russia, especially, all eyes were turned. 
It was said that Lucien Bonaparte had negotiated an alliance with 
the Spanish branch of the Bourbons during his stay at Madrid ; 
but there were strong objections to bringing the race of the Bour- 
bons back to France ; the attachment of a great number of French- 
men to that house, and the pretensions which such a return would 
create, might eventually be a cause of disquiet to the Bonaparte 

* This discussion had taken place shortly before my return from Cor- 
sica. Madame Bonaparte's tears and entreaties were in vain. She could 
not obtain her husband's consent to a religious celebration of their 
marriage. 



254 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELI'IO. 

family. Moreover, Spain could confer neither power, support, 
nor influence in Europe. 

The policy of France at that time forbade her to hold any in- 
tercourse with Austria, and besides, there was the fear of refusal 
from the haugiuy Caesar at Vienna. With the help of Russia only, 
on the other hand, Bonaparte might accomplish the vast projects 
he had conceived ? Pride of birth had less root there than else- 
where ; the Czars had sometimes disregarded that consideration in 
selecting a bride. The reigning house owed all its splendour to one 
extraordinary man, who had made it illustrious less than a hundred 
years before. There was a certain likeness in fortune and fate be- 
tween the founder of St. Petersburg and the warrior politician who 
now reigned over France. Ever}'thing therefore seemed to point 
to an alliance with Russia. The First Consul, moreover, appeared 
to have far-reaching views in the political rank which he had be- 
stowed on his wife ; for when I pointed this out to Joseph Bona- 
parte, he answered that far from militating against the Consul's 
designs, it really promoted them, for that he intended thereby to 
regulate beforehand the position of the princess who should suc- 
ceed to Madame Bonaparte. And, in truth, the honors paid to 
the latter at this period were sufficient to satisfy the requirements 
of the very proudest house, for it could not be doubted that simi- 
lar honours would be freely paid to the wife whom it should be- 
stow upon the First Consul. 

I was thus initiated by Joseph Bonaparte into the secret of a 
future, which was working itself out, though with less rapidity than 
I at first anticipated ; but I was far from being dazzled by its seem- 
ing brilliancy. All these projects seemed to me more bright than 
solid. I could not refrain from expressing my fears on the subject 
to Joseph Bonaparte, and from adding certain gloomy reflections 
which were suggested by his confidential communications. 

" Bonaparte means to reign," I said to his brother, " and his 
ambition will not be satisfied by reigning over France only. But 
will he be a mere meteor, flashing for an instant, to die out and 
vanish ? or will he be the founder of a new Empire to which his 
honoured name, handed down from age to age, will serve for a title, 
even as that of Cx-sar is still the title of Medixval Europe ? This 
is what you should consider. 

" In all great changes affecting governments two evidently dis- 
tinct things have to be cc)nsidered, institutions and individuals. 

" The true founders of emi)ircs and dynasties change institu- 
tions, and the change is lasting, not always because the system of 
government introduced by them is better than that they have over- 
thrown, but because public opinion, which they have won over to 
their side, and which supports the new order of things, may still 



I 



A usurper's policy. 255 

exist when the Reformer is no more. Mere usurpers, on the con- 
trary, simply turn out the individuals at the head of the govern- 
ment and take their place. But they seldom have successors ; 
their power dies with them and the former masters reappear. 

*' The new head of a State cannot therefore secure a lasting 
empire either to himself or his descendants, unless, while placing 
himself in the first rank, he also change the principles and the 
form of the preceding government ; he must even carefully remove 
everything that may recall them. 

' ' For a like reason it is vain to change the form of government 
unless you change its head at the same time, and also those who 
are supposed to succeed him. 

" Apply these principles to the actual state of things, and you 
can judge of your brother's line of conduct and perhaps foresee its 
results. 

' ' In aspiring, as everything tends to prove that he does aspire, 
not to power only but to the foundation of a dynasty, is Bonaparte 
changing, as he ought to change, the ancient forms of the French 
Government according to the principles just laid down? No. 
He is, on the contrary, endeavouring to revive the old monarchical 
ideas ; every day he is renewing institutions and customs which 
Time alone had sanctioned, but which even under our more recent 
kings had lost much of the prestige they had in former times, and 
were dying out. We are about to witness, or rather we do already 
see, the revival of orders, of family distinctions, soon we shall 
have distinction of birth. The destruction of the National Repre- 
sentation and the submissiveness of the Senate make the present 
head of the Government as completely master of the public lib- 
erty and the public fate as ever were our kings of France. The 
ancient system, therefore, on which the French Monarchy was 
built up is no longer essentially abolished ; its advantages and its 
defects still subsist. In short, all that remains to be seen is 
whether the new chief is better or more agreeable to the nation 
than the one whom we should have had in the natural course of 
events. 

' * The question, if regarded merely from that point of view and 
submitted, were it possible, to the free vote of the nation, might 
not be unanimously answered in favour of Bonaparte. Admitting, 
however, that a great majority would vote for him ; that, on com- 
paring him with the recent kings of France and with the men 
whose birth would entitle them at present to the throne, his fame 
and his talents, gratitude for the services he has rendered, and the 
mighty power of his genius would prevail over affection for the 
family of our ancient rulers ; in short, that the nation would hon- 
estly desire to leave the sceptre in his hands rather than to entrust 



256 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

it to others less worthy to bear it ; still Bonaparte would have ac- 
complished nothing. 

" In the first place, the sentiment of admiration which has placed 
him where he is, will of necessity decline, for it is the fate of rulers 
to meet with discontent and ingratitude ; the comparisons drawn 
between him and those whose place he occupies will be less and 
less favourable to him every day. In order therefore to counter- 
balance the disenchantment of that nearer view which diminishes 
enthusiasm, and to turn aside the shafts of ridicule to which his 
private life must expose him, he must keep the nation constantly 
occupied with great enterprises, with wars that will add to his glory 
and maintain his superiority over every rival. But in this case he 
must repeatedly imperil his own existence. Would not reverses, 
nay one single reverse, strip him of all he had acquired ? and 
would the army, when fighting for one man's ambition only, the 
army, when no longer kindled by the enthusiasm of the wars of 
the Republic, always be able, even with all the aid of the military 
genius of its leader, to guarantee him from reverses or to repair 
them ? 

" Secondly, admitting that he overcomes all these obstacles, the 
end of his life must, none the less, be the end of his greatness ; 
he, after his death, will, none the less, be ranked with the usurpers. 
How can we suppose that there would then be any hesitation 
between his family and that of the Bourbons ? How can we fail 
to see that the Bourbons would be speedily recalled, if the place 
left vacant by your brother were merely that of a king, if he had 
not made such important changes in the ancient forms of the Gov- 
ernment that the nation would insist on retaining advantages 
whose value it would have experienced, by defending the family 
from whom it had received them ? 

" Bonaparte should therefore establish a marked difference 
between the past and the future, if he would have his achieve- 
ments to live. He should adopt a form of government no less 
powerful indeed than the Monarchy, but so totally different in its 
exterior, so true to the promises of the Revolution, that each indi- 
vidual should be directly interested in supporting the author of 
that order of things, and be convinced that the system would not 
last unless the highest post were perpetuated in the family of him 
who created it. This indeed would be to found a new Empire. 

" But to want to be King of France, as Louis XIV. and his 
descendants were kings of France, to govern despotically like 
them, to surround himself with the same guards, the same cere- 
monial, to give his wife the same rank as that of the daughters of 
Austria and of France, would only be to put himself in the place 
of the man who formerly sat on the hereditary throne ; that is to 



i\ 



MOREAU. 257 



say, to usurp. Bonaparte will do much, if he succeeds in keeping 
that throne during his life. To raise his descendants to it is im- 
possible ; whatever may be accomplished or hoped for, so soon as 
the question arises of a choice between the Bourbon and the Bona- 
parte family, there will never be either hesitation or doubt in the 
popular mind."* 

While these confidential conversations were taking place between 
Joseph Bonaparte and myself, the First Consul was advancing with 
firm steps along the path he had marked out, and everything, it 
must be admitted, seemed to favour his progress. The peace with 
England had been followed by Lord Whitworth' s arrival as ambas- 
sador, and no circumstance that had as yet occurred was so flatter- 
ing to the vanity of Bonaparte. I was present at the reception of 
the ambassador on the 14th Frimaire (December 5). The Tuileries 
were crowded ; the First Consul was magnificently attired ; a gold 
sword hung at his side, adorned with the finest of the Crown dia- 
monds ; conspicuous among these was the stone called the Regent. \ 

In the evening there was a State reception ; Ambassadors, Gen- 
erals, Senators, and Councillors of State were there with their 
wives. The First Consul's countenance revealed his satisfaction ; 
English pride had given way before him. This was a triumph, 
but a short-lived one. The Ministers, following the example of 
their head, also gave receptions, at which they displayed great 
magnificence. I was present at the reception of the Minister of 
War ; it was somewhat remarkable. Among the guests was Gen- 
eral Moreau. He appeared in a simple costume of plain cloth, 
contrasting strangely with the uniforms, and the gold and silk- 
embroidered suits of the other guests. This gave rise to remark 
and conjecture. Was it intended as a reflection on the Consular 
Government .? Was the General's motive modesty or affectation .? 
Each one answered these questions in his own way. But whatever 
Moreau' s motives may have been, the result was successful. Great 
attention was paid to the General, his importance was augmented, 
and thenceforth Bonaparte must have looked on him less as a rival 
than as a declared enemy. 

For the time being, however, that enmity cast no shadow on the 
fortunes of the First Consul. The whole of France submitted to 
his rule. Piedmont was united to France ; the Milanese territory, 
Parma, Placenza, and Bologna, under the name of the Italian 
Republic, had acknowledged him as their president and ruler ; 

* The above remarks were uttered and consigned to writing on the 
25th Frimaire, year XI. (December 16, 1802). 

f This diamond, one of the most beautiful and perfect stones in exist- 
ence, had been purchased during the Regency of the Duke of Orleans, hence 
ifs name. It weighs 546 grains, and cost 2,500,000 francs (;^ioo,ooo). 



258 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



Tuscany, transformed into the kingdom of Etruria, had received 
from him an Infant of Spain as her king, who was the mere vassal 
of France ; the negotiations entered upon in consequence of the 
Treaty of Lunevillc, and carried on by Joseph Bonaparte and by 
Count Cobentzel, had been prosperously concluded on the 9th 
Nivose, year XI. (December ^o, 1802),. by two conventions, by 
which the indemnification of the dethroned German Princes was 
agreed to, and the annexation of Piedmont to France was recog- 
nised ; so that a lasting peace seemed likely to ensue. 

On the one hand, foreign affairs assumed a more favourable 
aspect daily, and on the other, Bonaparte's success in the interior 
of France was equally important to his ulterior designs. 

News of the death of General Leclerc, who commanded the fatal 
expedition to St. Domingo, reached Paris on the 1 7th Nivose, year 
XI. (Jan. 7, 1803). The General had married Pauline Bonaparte, 
and was consequently brother-in-law to the First Consul. His 
death gave a fine opportunity for reviving the ancient etiquette of 
Court-mourning, and was used accordingly. The Council of 
State, specially convoked on the 20th Nivose, paid a visit of cere- 
mony to the First Consul. The Senate and the Magistracy did 
the same. All the great bodies of the State went into mourning, 
and the death was officially notified to the Foreign ambassadors 
resident in Paris, and to the Ministers of the Republic at various 
foreign Courts. IMadame Bonaparte also received visits frc^m the 
wives of the principal public officials ; and those ladies appeared 
in mourning. Curiously enough, this return to former Court cus- 
toms made a profound sensation, and was looked upon as a Voider 
venture than others of greater importance made by the Fii"St Consul, 
than for instance, the change in the coinage which took f)lace one 
month later. By a decree passed in the Council of State on the 19th 
Pluviose (February 8), the head of Bonaparte, with an inscription 
Napoleon Bonaparte, premier Consul, was substituted for the allegori- 
cal face which had marked the coinage since 1792. The reverse 
was to have been decorated with a wreath of oak-leaves, with the 
value of the coin marked in tiie centre, and the inscription, le ptit- 
ple/ra7i^ais. But these words were replaced by Repitbliqiie frav^ais. 
This great alteration, one so contrary to Republican feeling, was 
effected, so to speak, without attracting attention. Yet the sitting 
of the Council of State in which so strongly monarchical a resolu- 
tion was passed was a remarkable one, not from the raising of any 
voice in opposition to this new usurpation, but from a curious 
discussion on the motto that was to be graven on the rim of the 
coin. Bonaparte inquired whetiier the former coins did not bear 
on their rim these words, Domine, salvum/ac regent, and on receiv- 
ing an affirmative reply, he raised the question whether it would 



NEW COINAGE. 259 



not be well to retain that ancient formula, and to engrave Domine^ 
salvunifac rempublicam. This proposition was about to be carried, 
when Lebrun, the Third Consul, remarked that the word Domine 
might give rise to a false interpretation, and that it might be 
applied to the First Consul by translating it into Seigneur^ sauve la 
republique ; " Lord, save the Republic !" " No," replied Bona- 
parte curtly ; ' ' there is no fear of its being so understood, for that 
is a thing already done." However, the old motto was rejected, 
and Dieu sauve la France was substituted for it. 

At the same time that these innovations, the aim of which was 
obvious to every one, were succeeding each other without opposi- 
tion, or at the very most only afforded subjects for a few epigrams, 
it became necessary to reward the magistracy, by whose help they 
had been effected. The submission of the Senate, which had 
already proved itself so obsequious, must be secured, and its 
attachment irrevocably purchased by pecuniary gifts. This was 
accomplished by Bonaparte with extreme skill in the Senatus- 
Consultum of the 14th Nivose. The principal points of that Act 
were discussed in an extraordinary sitting of the Senate which took 
place on the 9th of the same month. On pretext of definitively 
constituting it, and making its position more stable and more im- 
posing, an income of four millions from the produce of the sale of 
the woods of the State, and one million from the property of the 
emigres, was allotted to the endowment of that body. By this en- 
dowment, the muiimum salary of a Senator became 40,000 francs 
(;fi6oo), audit also provided for the extraordinary expense of a 
Council of Administration, consisting of six members of the Sen- 
ate ; two under the name of " Lenders ;"* two great officers ; a 
Chancellor and a Treasurer. These six personages were to have 
residences assigned them in the Luxembourg and to be charged 
with the representation of the Senate. Independently of this 
annual endowment, thirty senatorships were instituted in various 
departments, each with an annual income of 25,000 francs 
(;f 1000), and a manor, in which the Senators, provided with these 
Prebends or Commanderies, should be bound to reside during at 
least three months of the year. During their stay in the provinces, 
the Senators holding these senatorial prerogatives were to act as 
intermediaries between the government and the governed, and to 
re,port to the Senate the state of public opinion in their depart- 
ments. Now, as these Senatorial seats were at the disposal of the 
First Consul, and as their number was limited to one-third of the 
whole Senate, it is evident that the first filling up of these appoint- 
ments — which was only to be effected by degrees — and the distri- 

* Priteurs. 



26o MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

bution of the inheritance when left \'acant by the death of the 
holders, must afford the Government an immense intluence over 
the Senate. 

All these measures were passed unanimously, as I learned from 
Joseph Bonaparte, who, in his capacity of Senator, was present at 
the sitting. "I am quite undeceived," he said to me, on his 
return, "as to Republicanism in France ; it no longer exists. 
Not a single member of the Senate raised his voice against the pro- 
posed measures, nor even took the trouble of affecting a disinter- 
estedness he did not feel. The most Republican of them all 
were using their pencils to calculate the share of each in the com- 
mon dividend." 

After having thus secured and fashioned with his own hands an 
instrument as supple as it was strong ; after having surrounded 
himself with all the external attributes of sovereignty, unopposed, 
and, still more, after having grasped the reality of absolute power 
with a firm hand, there remained but one more step for Bonaparte 
to take, in order to call his great position by its true name, when 
the clouds, arising from the execution of the Treaty of Amiens, 
which were beginning to darken the political horizon between 
England and France, arrested his progress for a time. On several 
occasions already the First Consul had shown unequivocal signs 
of aversion to England. At the sitting of the Council of State 
when the alteration of the effigy on the coinage was adopted, an 
incidental discussion had afforded him an opportunity of declaring 
his opinion of the English, and he had expressed himself with re- 
markable bitterness. To the great surprise of the Council he had 
found fault with everything that existed in England. Her national 
spirit, her policy, her form of Government, nothing escaped his 
censure, which he even extended to Shakespeare and Milton, 
whom I. had little expected to hear criticised in the Council ot 
State of France. 

Bonaparte's personal dislike to England gathered strength every 
day from the perusal of the English newspapers, and especially of 
those which were cditetl by the emigres, and printed in French, in 
London, and which contained the coarsest abuse of the First Con- 
sul and his family ; from the opposition offered to M. de Talley- 
rand in the negotiations opened with Lord Whitworth respecting 
the cession of Malta — one of the conditions of the Treaty of 
Amiens — and most of all fn^m the failure of an attempt made by 
himself to inveigle England into sharing his ambitious views, by 
proposing to her, in no dubious terms, to join with France and 
divide the world l)€twcen them. This attempt, which proves how 
little Bonaparte understood the principles of the P^nglish Govern- 
ment, and how great was his delusion on the subject (a delusion 



Bonaparte's hatred of England. 261 

which clung to him until the fatal moment when he trusted him- 
self into the hands of that Government), is recorded in a despatch 
from Lord Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury, printed by order of 
Parliament as a justification of the declaration of war, and in 
which the ambassador gives a detailed account of a conversation 
between the First Consul and himself on the 29th Pluviose (Feb- 
ruary 18).* 

These suggestions were rejected, as it was natural that they 
should be. But the vexation of having them made in vain must, 
no doubt, have been very keen to the First Consul. 

So many subjects of misunderstanding, to which must be added 
the displeasure caused in England by Colonel Sebastiani's report, 
published in the ' Moniteur,' relating to his mission in Egypt, 
and which openly revealed the First Consul's designs of trans- 
forming that country into a French Colony, indicated an impend- 
ing rupture ; and this, in fact, took place before long. 

On the 2ist Ventose (March 12) the speech of the King of Eng- 
land to Parliament, delivered on the 8 th, reached Paris. It pro- 
duced a great sensation, and some surprise, because several of the 
causes which had led to His Majesty's utterances were still un- 
known to the public. And as the expressions used in the King's 
speech were so hostile that it might be taken as a declaration of 
war, all the consequences of an unexpected rupture, in which so 
many interests were involved, became suddenly apparent, and 
caused universal uneasiness and trouble. There was a serious fall 
in the public funds, and all commercial speculation was suspended. 

The above is a general sketch of this great event, of its causes 
and its immediate effects. I shall now trace, in detail, the prog- 
ress of the crisis during the five weeks that elapsed between the 
King's speech to Parliament, and Lord Whitworth' s departure 
from Paris, which completed the rupture. I shall relate the secret 
negotiations which preceded it ; and state the special opportunities 
that were afforded me of obsemng the sentiments and the conduct 
of the First Consul at this conjuncture. 

* See the * Morning Chronicle' of May 19, 1803. The King of Eng- 
land's declaration of war was published, with annotations in the ' Mon- 
iteur' of 23d Prairial ; but the text of the accompanying documents, 
which were printed in England, is not to be found in the French paper. 
That confines itself to the following remark : " We have now to examine 
the official documents published by the English Ministers in defence of 
their Sovereign's manifesto." But as the 'Moniteur' never carried out 
that pledge, and as the conversation between Bonaparte and Lord Whit- 
worth is of the highest importance to an intelligent appreciation of events, 
and throws a strong light on the character and views of the First Consul, 
I think it well to give the whole despatch verbatim. The reader will find 
it at the end of the present chapter. 



262 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

On the day following that on which the King of England's 
speech became known, the First Consul met Lord Whitworth, 
who was paying a visit to Madame Bonaparte, and a very animat- 
ed conversation ensued. After expressing his utter astonishment 
at the proceedings of the English Government, Bonaparte contin- 
ued in the following terms : *' How is it. that the King chose the 
very moment when the French Government was evincing the must 
friendly dispositions ? Was it because he wants to seize the oppor- 
tunity of my vessels (sic) being scattered in the four quarters of the 
globe, and does he hope, this being the case, to achieve the de- 
struction of the French Navy ? But I too can make war in the sole 
interests of France, and such a war would last at least fifteen 
years. ' ' 

" That is a long time," was Lord Whitworth' s only reply. 

" However," continued Bonaparte, " I have nothing but praise 
to bestow on your own personal attitude, and your presence here 
has given me great pleasure. I hear the Duchess of Dorset* is 
unwell, but I hope she will have time to recover her health before 
she leaves Paris." 

Two days after this conversation, the Council of State was sum- 
moned to discuss a project of law by which the exclusive privilege 
of issuing notes was to be granted to the Bank of France. But tlie 
First Consul, instead of confining himself to this, addressed us, at 
the very beginning of the sitting, on the present state of our rela- 
tions w^ith England. 

" I protest," said he, " that there does not exist a single cause 
of dissension between the two nations which might even serve as a 
pretext for the King of England's last proceeding. I have faith- 
fully carried out all the conditions of the Treaty of Amiens ; but I 
require the English on their side to observe them also, and unless 
we want-to pass for the most contemptible nation in Europe, we 
must allow no modification in the execution. But I can scarcely 
believe that the English really desire war. They do not usually 
commence it in that way ; they begin at once, and talk after- 
wards. 

It will be seen by this that the First Consul did not as yet ap- 
proach the true cause of the misunderstanding between the two 
Governments. The English wanted to retain Malta as a compen- 
sation for all the acquisiticjns made by F" ranee since the Peace of 
Amiens, especially in Italy. The British Government, in order to 
facilitate matters, had even secretly pnjposed to the First Consul 
that it should recognise sundry jjcrsonal advantages to himself and 
his family, such a? the title of Consular Majesty, and hereditary 

* Lord Whitworth had married the widow of the third Duke of Dorset. 



FOR AND AGAINST WAR. 263 

succession to that title, if he would not insist on the evacuation of 
Malta. These overtures had been made in Paris by a M. Hubert, 
to whom they had^been entrusted by the English ambassador, and 
were addressed in particular to Joseph Bonaparte through the 
medium of Regnault de St. Jean-d' Angely, who was in communi- 
cation with the secret agent. But even supposing these overtures 
to have been sincere, Bonaparte was by no means inclined to ac- 
cept them. He well knew that he needed no help from England 
in order to traverse the short space that lay between himself and 
the throne. He also knew that a successful war was a surer 
means of reaching that throne than the protection of a foreign 
Power, to be obtained by a sacrifice of national dignity, and, more- 
over, that a negotiation which would have had personal advantages 
only for its result would have a ridiculous side. He insisted all the 
more strongly on the literal execution of the treaty, because of his 
conviction that the English Ministry, knowing the full importance 
of the possession of the island of Malta, would never consent to 
give it up, and that from this contest a rupture must necessarily 
ensue. Indeed, after his unsuccessful attempt to associate Eng- 
land with him in his ambition, war was his only honourable re- 
source, and it might in the long run be more advantageous than 
hurtful to his projects. 

But public opinion promptly declared itself against war. The 
renewal of hostilities was, in general, looked upon with alarm, 
and the few remaining lovers of liberty saw nothing but ruin and 
disaster in the event of reverses, and in the case of success only an 
additional means by which the First Consul would reach the goal 
of his ambition. They did not believe that the national honour 
was so deeply involved in this question as was alleged. A war 
which was to begin by leaving the object of the contest in the 
hands of the enemy, from which nothing but a fresh treaty could 
remove it, seemed an absurdity. " France," said I to Joseph 
Bonaparte, with whom I was speaking on the subject, while pass- 
ing a few days with him at Morfontaine, towards the end of Ger- 
minal, *' France, depend upon it, feels none of this political sensi- 
tiveness ; the only reason that has been put forward, at any rate 
ostensibly, and which tends to rekindle a conflagration which may 
spread all over Europe. The real desire of the nation is for 
peace. It would hardly have noticed a slight modification in the 
Treaty of Amiens. This headstrong war will not be popular 
among us, because it endangers all the benefits we have acquired 
through peace. It will, on the contrary, be popular with our 
enemies, because it will tend to wipe out the shame of an inglo- 
rious treaty, and, moreover, to ruin our commerce and our navy, 
which are the objects of their unsleeping jealousy. This state of 



264 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

feeling at the commencement of a war is of more importance than 
people seem to think. INIoreover, its beginning must necessarily 
be annoying and alarming, since, having no enemy on the Conti- 
nent, we shall have no victory on land to contrast with our defeats 
on the sea, and with the successive losses of our ships and our 
colonies, of which every day will bring us news. Then discour- 
agement will begin, murmurs will follow, all regard for the head 
of the Government will vanish, and the .consequences of these 
various sentiments may be made manifest, before a successful de- 
scent on the enemy's coast, — our only means of meeting him and 
avenging ourselves, — comes to revive the depressed spirits of the 
people. ' ' 

These remarks made little impression at the time on Joseph 
Bonaparte. Under the sway of his brother, trusting in the inex- 
haustible resources of that brother's military genius, and taking a 
kind of personal pride in the strict execution of a treaty which he 
had himself negotiated and signed, he looked upon war from a 
different point of view ; and though I will do him the justice to 
say that had the continuance of peace depended on him, it would 
not have been broken, and that he would even have done all in 
his power to avoid war, still he did not rate the maintenance of 
peace so highly as I did. 

On my return to Paris I found the probabilities of a rupture 
greatly increased. On Sunday the nth Floreal (May i) Lord 
Whitworth did not appear at the usual ambassadors' audience. 
The First Consul conversed for a long time with M. Markoff, the 
Russian ambassador, and when the audience was over, he detained 
the members of the Senate and the Council of State, who, accord- 
ing to custom, were present, and began an animated conversation 
with them. His anger with England was excessive. 

"They want to make us," he said, speaking of the English 
]\Iinisters, " they want to make us jump the ditch, and we'll jump 
it. How could a nation of forty millions consent to let another 
nation lay down the law for it ! The independence of States must 
come first ; before liberty, and before the prosperity of trade and 
manufactures. Can we allow the English to lay down as a point 
of doctrine that they will only execute the treaties they have 
signed, in so far as they shall not be disadvantageous to them ? 
'1 o accept a modification of the Treaty of Amiens is to accept the 
first link of a chain which will afterwards lengthen itself out, and 
will end by our complete subjection, by a treaty of commerce 
such as that of 1785, and, in short, by the return of a Commis* 
sioner to Dunkerque. Let us cede Malta, and to-morrow our 
vessels will be insulted, our ships will be forced to salute those of 
the Enghsh, and to endure a disgraceful inspection. We shall no 



THE CASE AGAINST ENGLAND. 265 

doubt have an arduous beginning ; we shall have to lament losses 
at sea, perhaps even the loss of our colonies ; but we shall be 
strengthened on the Continent. We have already acquired an ex- 
tent of coast that makes us formidable ; we will add to this, we 
will form a more -complete coast-system, and England shall end 
by shedding tears of blood over the war she will have under- 
taken. 

) " Wheresoever in Europe there remains a sense of justice, the 
blame of this war will be thrown on her. 

* ' Whence this quarrel ? Have we given the English any cause 
of complaint ? I protest that since the Treaty of Amiens we have 
asked nothing of England. We have left her in quiet, we have 
faithfully observed the conditions of the treaty. Therefore of all 
men in Europe perhaps I was the most surprised at the King of 
England's speech. Armaments !* I have ordered none. Nego- 
tiations attempted with England ! 1 have neither opened nor en- 
tertained any since the Peace of Amiens, f The whole thing is 
the fable of the wolf and the lamb. For the last seven weeks the 
English have acted with as much insolence as we have shown re- 
serve and moderation. Did they, finding me so moderate — me, 
whom they know to be of little endurance — imagine that I would 
not dare to make war ? That, being forced to conciliate the peo- 
ple, I should not be able to resist ? They deceive themselves. 
Their emissaries, and the sums they expend to sow dissensions 
among us, have hitherto entirely failed of success ; they are em- 
ploying their money very ill. 

* ' But what disappoints them most is this. They believe we 
could not exist through a peace, that our internal divisions would 
do us more harm than war, and that we have only to be left to 
ourselves to perish. At the present time the order prevailing in 
France, the satisfactory aspect of our administration, and our 
finance, alarm them much more than our alleged armaments. By 
their arrogance and their insolent pretensions they are endeavour- 
ing to effect what their infernal policy failed in doing. 

" But can we fail to be astonished at the conduct of their Min- 
istry at the present moment ? Can we avoid seeing its positive 
insanity ? What ! they want to fight us in a second war, and 
they begin by restoring to us the Cape, Martinique, and Elba, 
and by evacuating Egypt, and then they make difficulties on one 
single point of the treaty, Malta ; an article guaranteed by the 

* Allusion was made in the King's speech to the extraordinary arma- 
ments taking place in the French ports. 

f The overtures made to Lord Whitworth in his interview with Bona- 
parte a month before, had been regarded in England as the beginning of 
negotiations. 



266 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Continental Powers ! of a truth, there is both folly and extra va- 
gance in such conduct. 

" At the present moment, when the crisis is impending, they 
send us, through tlieir ambassador, a summons to answer their 
demand within six days, at the expiration of which he announces 
that he has orders to leave Paris ; and the ambassador will not 
even communicate this to us in writing ! We ask him for a Note 
on which we may deliberate, and he refuses ! Let him go, then ! 
we shall have nothing to reproach ourselves with. 

' ' Now, is it in our power to give them what does not belong to 
us ? For they do not restrict their claims to Malta ; they ask 
besides for the island of Lampedusa, which does not belong to 
France. Lastly, they demand reparation for disrespectful articles 
in our newspapers, while every day their own overwhelm us with 
insult and outrage carried to excess ! But they want to be able 
to vituperate us, without being abused in return ; this is another 
of their political doctrines." 

This conversation, or rather this allocution, for no one ex- 
pressed either approval or the reverse, lasted about three-quarters 
of an hour, and was interrupted and resumed several times. I 
have given its most striking expressions and phraseology, just as I 
transcribed them at the time. 

Notwithstanding this almost public manifestation of the mind 
of the First Consul, and the small hope it left of the continuance 
of peace, negotiations were not, as yet, broken off. For, inde- 
pendently of those officially carried on between the English am- 
bassador and M. de Talleyrand, the secret negotiation in which 
Regnault de St. Jean-d' Angely had taken part was still in progress. 
Malouet, a former member of the Constituent Assembly, was also 
engaged in the latter. He had seen Joseph Bonaparte twice, and 
had contrived secret interviews between him and Lord Whitworth, 
who had several times declared that he would treat solely with 
Joseph Bonaparte, and not with Talleyrand or his creatures, whom, 
lie said, he could only approach with bribes in his hand. No 
better understanding had, however, been arrived at in these fresh 
conferences than in the preceding ones, which were carried on 
through Hubert. The First Consul would concede nothing. But 
notwithstanding his stubbornness, he was persuaded until the very 
day of audience that Lord Whitworth would be present, and would 
accept the invitation to dinner that he had sent him. The absence 
of the ambassador and his refusal of this invitation had deeply hurt 
the First Consul, and brought about the explosion of anger which 
took place, as I have said, in presence of the Senate and the Coun- 
cil of State. 

After such a speech, it was impossible any longer to doubt that 



LORD WHITWORTIl'S COURSE. 26/ 

Bonaparte was resolved to go to war. I even thought it undig- 
nified on his part, after expressing himself so openly on the sub- 
ject, to try any further means of conciliation. This, however, he 
did. Either the First Consul, when the decisive moment ap- 
proached, became alarmed at the consequences of the step he 
was about to take, or he only wished to gain time, or to justify 
the resolution he had come to by further and more pacific propo- 
sitions ; for negotiations were resumed on Monday the 12 th Floreal 
(May i) with fresh activity. On the ambassador's sending for his 
passports, the Minister of Exterior Relations made an evasive reply 
and the passports were not forwarded. Then Regnault de St. Jean- 
d'Angelywas commissioned to propose, as 2. mezzo termine, that 
Malta should be left in the hands of Russia. This proposal, 
which was carried by Malouet to the ambassador at 10 p.m. on the 
Tuesday was rejected. Lord Whitworth declared that he could 
not accede to it, and insisted on the absolute surrender of the 
island. His reply having been communicated to Joseph Bona- 
parte, the latter hinted that the exact date of the handing over of 
Malta to Russia would be considered immaterial, and that as the 
island would remain in the hands of England until it passed under 
Russian rule, such an arrangement might be regarded as a veritable 
cession. Wednesday was spent in these conferences. Extraor- 
dinary sittings of the Senate, of the Council of State, of the Legis- 
lative Body and of the Tribunate had been announced for the fol- 
lowing day, the 15th Floreal (May 5). Messages or communica- 
tions from the Government were to have announced the rupture 
with-England to all these bodies. The parts had been distributed, 
and the Presidents forewarned ; orators who might be depended 
on had prepared their speeches. But nothing of all this took 
place, and for the following reasons. 

The secret negotiation, opened on the preceding day, had 
assumed an official character. Lord Whitworth had seen M. de 
Talleyrand at 5 p. m. The proposal to cede Malta to Russia was 
seriously considered, with the reservation that the date of the hand- 
ing over was not to be insisted on, so that the proposal, thus 
understood, tended practically to leave Malta for a long time, if 
not for ever, in the power of England. Lord Whitworth could 
not have agreed to this without exceeding his instructions, but he 
consented to despatch a courier to London, and to defer his own 
departure for ten days, so as to allow time for his receiving an 
answer. 

That answer arrived on Monday the 19th Floreal (May 9), and 
on the following day, Lord Whitworth presented a note containing 
the result of the deliberations of the Cabinet of St. James's. 

The offer to place Malta in the hands of Russia was rejected, 



268 MKMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the special reason bcins^ tliat the latter Power had not given a 
formal consent to that arrangement. I^ut, while declining it, the 
English Government made further propositions, of which the prin- 
cipal ones were as follows : 

1. The complete cession of the Isle of Lampedusa, with power 
lo erect buildings and a fort ; 

2. The right of remaining in Malta until such time as the erec- 
tions on the Isle of Lampedusa should be completed (this was a 
secret article) ; 

3. A fair indemnity to the King of Sardinia ; 

4. The evacuation of Holland and of Switzerland. 

The increase to French territory since the Peace of Amiens was 
recognized. But an answer to these propositions was required 
within thirty-six hours, at the expiration of which time the ambas- 
sador was ordered to leave Paris. 

The note was ill-received by the First Consul. The last clause 
especially, requiring a reply within six-and-thirty hours, made him 
excessively angry. He roughly blamed Talleyrand for not having 
immediately sent it back, and went so far as to say that in ventur- 
ing to present it to him Talleyrand had been guilty of disrespect. 

In this frame of mind, he summoned for the following day, 
Wednesday 21st Floreal (May nth), a Privy Council composed of 
the Two Consuls, Joseph Bonaparte, the Ministers of War, Marine 
and Exterior Relations. 

The proceedings opened with a discussion of the English am- 
bassador's note. The First Consul spoke with great vehemence. 
He again attacked Talleyrand, who endured the storm with 
patience, and, together with Joseph Bonaparte, persistently de- 
clared himself on the side of peace. The other members of the 
Council took part with the First Consul, and still further excited 
his anger,' which already was at white-heat. It was resolved by a 
large majority that a negative answer should be returned to the 
ambassador. A reply in that sense was accordingly drawn up, and 
the order was given that his passports should be forwarded. 

All was over by the Wednesday evening, and there was no 
longer room for hope. But Joseph Bonaparte made, as from him- 
self, one final effort. He offered to obtain his brother's consent 
to the arrangement proposetl by the English (lovernment. on con- 
dition that France should maintain a garrison at Otranto, during 
the occupation of Malta by the English. On Thursday morning, 
two further interviews took place between Lord Whitworth and 
Joseph Bonaparte, who then repaired to St. Cloud to report the 
result The ambassador consented to defer his departure, if the 



WAR 



269 



First Consul would convey to him officially the proposition that 
had been made only in confidence. He even promised, should 
the First Consul decline to take that step ostensibly, to travel 
slowly, in order to be still on French territory when an answer 
should be received to the despatch which he undertook to send to 
London. 

Without formally rejecting the proposal that Joseph Bonaparte 
appeared to have made of his own accord, but which, nevertheless, 
I believe he had not taken entirely upon himself to make, the 
First Consul declined to give any official character to this proceed- 
ing. Lord Whitworth therefore asked for his passports, obtained 
them, and prepared to set out on the evening of Thursday the 
22d Floreal (May 12).* 

On that same day a post arrived from St. Petersburg. It did 
not bring, as had been hoped and was reported, the positive con- 
sent of Russia to receive Malta in deposit, but an assurance from 
the Emperor Alexander that he would accept the office of mediator 
between England and France, and that he was willing to accede to 
all the arrangements which those two Powers might adopt in the 
interests of peace. 

M. de Markoff hastened to Lord Whitworth, and, according to 
instructions received from his Court, earnestly begged him not to 
leave Paris. He did not succeed, but the English ambassador 
promised to forward another despatch, and renewed his pledge of 
travelling with so little speed as to be still in France when replies 
from London should reach him. 

Lord Whitworth left Paris late on the 22d Floreal (May 12), 
and remained for the night at Chantilly. A crowd gathered at his 
doors at the time he was to set out, for his departure occasioned 
real consternation. For some days past a kind of popular ferment 
had been noticeable. A considerable number of new crown-pieces, 
on which the effigy of the First Consul had been defaced, were cir- 
culating in the markets, and some murmuring was heard. This 
was however only a temporary effervescence, and had no further 
consequences. 

After the ambassador's departure, the First Consul himself dic- 
tated a note to his brother, in which he proposed leaving Malta for 
ten years in the hands of England, provided that for the same 
space of time the French should maintain garrisons at Otranto and 
in the Kingdom of Naples. This proposition was conveyed to the 
Secretary to the English Embassy, who still remained in Paris, and 

* As the note in answer to the English ultimatum is dated 23d Floreal, 
it would seem that it was addressed to the ambassador after midnight, 
either when he was just setting out, or when he was already on the road. 



270 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

who took it to Lord Whitworth. Regnault de St. Jean-d'Angely 
ami the M. Hubert of whom I have already spoken were the in- 
termediaries in tiiis last negotiation, which at first seemed to prom- 
ise success. But it failed like the others. Lord Whitworth con- 
tinued his journey. General Andreossy, the French ambassador 
in Londt)n, had in like manner left that capital, and the two am- 
bassadors crossed the Straits on the same day. Thus all was over, 
and war was declared. 

The departure of the English ambassador had been merely an- 
nounced, without comment, in the ' Moniteur' of the 24th Floreal. 
But the Council of State was assembled on the same day, and the 
First Consul presided at the sitting. He began by saying that he 
had thought it his duty not to leave such a body as the Council of 
State any longer in ignorance of events relating to matters of such 
importance ; that he therefore would order that the note which the 
Minister of Exterior Relations had handed to Lord Whitworth 
from him (the First Consul) on the preceding day, in answer to 
the English ultimatum of the 20th Floreal, should be read to us ; 
that, nevertheless, as all hope of an understanding had not as yet 
died out, although for his own part he retained but litde, he 
thought the communication should not as yet be published, but 
for the present should be made by some of the Councillors of State 
to the three Constituent Bodies of the State, and by ihem received 
at a private sitting. The note, as published in the ' Moniteur' of 
the 30th Floreal, was then read aloud to us by the Secretary of 
State, and its moderate and dignified tone was generally commend- 
ed. I remarked, however, that it touched very lightly on our 
acquisitions since the Peace of Amiens, and not at all on Colonel 
Sebastiani's report, which was one of England's grievances against 
the French Government, and probably the real cause of England's 
laying claim to Malta, But these were our two weak points, as 
they were the strong ones of the English Ministry. 

After the reading of the note, the First Consul named three of 
the Councillors of State to take it to the Senate, the Legislative Body 
and the IVibunate ; and a few days later, on the 3Cth Floreal, 
when news had come that the two ambassadors had crossed the 
Channel, the note was published in the ' Moniteur.' On the same 
day the Council of State was again convoked extraordinarily, and 
in the morning I received a line from the Secretary of State inform- 
ing me that I had been appointed by the First Consul, with two 
of my colleagues (Berenger and Petiet), to speak on behalf of the 
Government at the Tribunate. 

All the Ministers were present at the sitting, which was presided 
over by the Second Consul. He informed us that, under present 
circumstances with regard to England, the Government had 



A SITTING OF THE COUNCIL. 27 1 

thought it well to communicate to the different bodies of the State 
the papers relating to the negotiations with England, beginning 
with the first steps taken shortly after the i8th Brumaire, compris- 
ing all that had taken place when preliminaries had been signed in 
London between M. Otto and Lord Hawkesbury, and the protocol 
of the Treaty of Amiens ; ending with the recent transactions from 
which the present rupture had resulted. After this, the message 
was read to us, and then the Councillors of State, who had been 
named beforehand to convey it to the various bodies, set out on 
their errand. 

The message and the voluminous papers appended to it appear 
in the ' Moniteur' of the ist Prairial. I examined them at the 
time with great care, but I sought in vain for what I had been told 
I should find there, — some positive information as to the manner 
in which England, during the negotiations at Amiens, had regarded 
events in Italy.* Nor could I find any confirmation of Russia's 

* The explanations, which the author sought in vain among the docu- 
ments published by the ' Moniteur,' are to be found in the following des- 
patch from Lord Hawkesbury to Lord Whil worth, dated February 9, 1803. 

•' Downing Street, February 9, 1803. 
" In answer to your Excellency's despatch of January 27, relative 
to the enquiry made of you by the French Government, on the subject of 
Malta, I can have no difficulty in assuring you that His Majesty has en- 
tertained a most sincere desire that the Treaty of Amiens might be ex- 
ecuted in a full and complete manner ; but it has not been possible for 
him to consider this treaty as having been founded on principles different 
from those which have been invariably applied to every other antecedent 
treaty or convention, namely that they were negotiated with reference 
to the actual state of possession of the different parties, and of the treaties 
or public engagements by which they were bound at the time of its con- 
clusion ; and that if that state of possession and of engagements was so 
instantly altered by the act of either of the parties as to affect the nature 
of the compact itself, the other party has a right, according to the law of 
nations, to interfere for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction or compen- 
sation for any essential difference which such acts may have subsequently 
made in their relative situation ; that if there ever was a case to which 
this principle might be applied with peculiar propriety, it was that of the 
late treaty of peace ; for the negotiation was conducted on a basis not 
merely proposed by His Majesty, but specially agreed to in an official 
note by the French Government, viz. that His Majesty should keep a 
compensation out of his conquests for the important acquisitions of terri- 
tory made by France upon the Continent. This is a sufficient proof that 
the compact was understood to have been concluded with reference to the 
then existing state of things ; for the measure of His Majesty's compen- 
sation was to be calculated with reference to the acquisitions of France 
at that time ; and if the interference of the French Government in the 
general affairs of Europe since that period ; if their interposition with 
respect to Switzerland and Holland, whose independence was guaranteed 
by them at the conclusion of the treaty of peace ; if the annexations 



2/2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

consent to liold ]\Talta as a deposit This last circumstance has 
always been doubtful. 

The following is the despatch addressed by Lord Whitworth to 
Lord Hawkesbury, and alluded to in the preceding pages. 

" Paris, February 21, 1803. 
" My Lord. — My last despatch, in which I gave your 
Lordship an account of my conference with M. de Talleyrand, 
was scarcely gone, when I received a note from him, informing 
me that the First Consul wished to converse with me, and desired 
I would come to him at the Tuileries at 9 o'clock. He received 
me in his cabinet, with tolerable cordiality, and, after talking on 
different subjects for a few minutes, he desired me to sit down, as 
he himself did on the other side of the table, and began. He told 
me that he felt it necessarj^ after what had passed between me and 
M. Talleyrand, that he should, in the most clear and authentick 
manner, make known his sentiments to me in order to their being 
communicated to His Majesty ; and he conceived this would be 
more effectually done by himself than through any medium 
whatever. He said, that it was a matter of infinite disappoint- 
ment to him that the Treaty of Amiens, instead of being followed 
by conciliation and friendship, the natural effects of peace, had 
been productive only of continual and increasing jealousy and 



which have been made to France in various quarters, but particularly 
those in Italy, have extended the territory and increased the power of the 
French Government, His Majesty would be warranted, consistently with 
the spirit of the treaty of peace, in claiming equivalents for these acqui- 
sitions, as a counterpoise to the augmentation of the power of France. 
His Majesty, however, anxious to prevent all ground of misunder- 
standing, and desiious of consolidating the general peace of Europe, as 
far as might be in his power, was willing to have waived the pretensions 
he might have a right to advance of this nature ; and as the other articles 
of the definitive treaty have been in a course oi execution on his part, so 
he would have been ready to have carried into effect the true interest and 
spirit of the loth Article, the execution of which, according to its terms, 
had been rendered impracticable by circumstances which it was not in 
His Majesty's power to control. A communication to your Lordship 
would accordingly have been prepared conformably to this disposition, if 
the attention of His Majesty's Government had not been attracted by the 
very extraordinary publication of the report of Colonel Sebastiani to the 
First Consul. It is impossible for His Majesty to view this report in any 
other light than as an official publication ; for without referring particu- 
larly to explanations, which have been repeatedly given upon the subject 
of publications in the ' Moniteur,' the article in question, as it purports 
to be the report to the First Consul of an accredited agent, as it appears 
to have been signed by Colonel Sebastiani himself, and as it is published 
in the official paper, with an official title affixed to it, must be considered 
as authorised by the French Government. This report contains the most 



LORD WHITWORTH'S DESPATCH. 2/3 

mistrust ; and that this mistrust was now avowed in such a manner 
as must bring the point to an issue. 

*' He now enumerated the several provocations which he pre- 
tended to have received from England. He placed in the first line 
our not evacuating Malta and Alexandria, as we were bound to do 
by treaty. 

" In this he said that no consideration on earth should make 
him acquiesce ; and of the two, he had rather see us in possession 
of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine than Malta. He then adverted to 
the abuse thrown out against him in the English publick prints ; 
but this he said he did not so much regard as that which appeared 
in the French papers published in London. This he considered 
as much more mischievous, since it was meant to excite this coun- 
try against him and his Government. He complained of this pro- 
tection given to Georges and others of his description, who, in- 
stead of being sent to Canada, as had been repeatedly promised, 
were permitted to remain in England, handsomely pensioned, and 
constantly committing all sorts of crimes on the coasts of France, 
as well as in the interior. In confirmation of this, he told me, 
that two men had within these few days been apprehended in 
Normandy, and were now on their way to Paris, who were hired 
assassins, and employed by the Bishop of Arras, by the Baron de 
Rolle, by Georges, and by Dutheil, as would be fully proved in 
a Court of Justice, and made known to the world. 

unjustifiable insinuations and charges against the officer who commanded 
his forces in Egypt, and against the British army in that quarter, insinu- 
ations and charges wholly destitute of foundation, and such as would 
warrant His Majesty in demanding that satisfaction, which, on occasions 
of this nature, independent Powers in a state of amity have a right to ex- 
pect from each other. It discloses, moreover, views in the highest degree 
injurious to the interests of His Majesty's dominions, and directly repug- 
nant to and utterly inconsistent with the spirit and letter of the treaty of 
peace concluded between His Majesty and the French Government ; and 
His Majesty would feel that he was wanting in a proper regard to the 
honour of his Crown, and to the interests of his dominion, if he could see 
with indifference such a system developed and avowed. His Majesty 
cannot, therefore, regard the conduct of the French Government on 
various occasions since the conclusion of the definitive treaty, the insin- 
uations and charges contained in the report of Colonel Sebastiani, and 
the views which that report discloses, without feeling it necessary for 
him distinctly to declare that it will be impossible for him to enter into 
any further discussion relative to Malta, unless he receives satisfactory 
explanation on the subject of this communication. ' 

'* Your Excellency is desired to take an early opportunity of fully ex- 
plaining His Majesty's sentiments as above stated to the French Govern- 
ment. ** I am, &c., 

(Signed) " Hawkesbury. 

" His Excellency, Lord Whitworth, K,B." 
&c. &c. &c. 



274 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELIIO. 

" He acknowledged diat the irritation he felt against England 
increased dail}', because every wind [I make use as much as I can 
of his own ideas and expressions] which blew from England 
brought nothing but enmity and hatred against him. 

" He now went back to Egypt, and told me, that if he had felt 
the smallest inclination to take possession of it by force, he might 
have done it a month ago, by sending twenty-five thousand men 
to Aboukir, who would have possessed themselves of the whole 
country in defiance of the four thousand British in Alexan- 
dria. That, instead of that garrison being a means of protect- 
ing Egypt, it was only furnishing him with a pretence for invad- 
ing it. ♦ This he should not do, whatever might be his desire to 
have it as a colony, because he did not think it worth the risk 
of a war, in which he might, perhaps, be considered as the aggres- 
sor, and by which he should lose more than he could gain, 
since, sooner or later, Egypt would belong to France, by the fall- 
ing to pieces of the Turkish Empire, or by some arrangement with 
the Porte. 

"As a proof of his desire to maintain peace, he wished to 
know what he had to gain by going to w^ar with England. A 
descent was the only means of offence he had, and that he was 
determined to attempt, by putting himself at the head of the ex- 
pedition. But how could it be supposed that after having gained 
the height on which he stood, he would risk his life and reputa- 
tion in such a hazardous attempt, unless forced to it by neces- 
sity, w'hen the chances were that he and the greatest part of the 
expedition would go to the bottom of the sea. He talked much 
on this subject, but never affected to diminish the danger. He 
acknowledged that there were one hundred chances to one against 
him ; but still he was determined to attempt it, if war should be 
the consequence of the present discussion ; and such was the dis- 
position of the troops, that army after army would be found for 
the enterprise. 

" He then expatiated much on the natural force of the t^vo 
countries. France, with an army of four hundred and eighty 
thousand men, for to this amount it is, he said, to be immediately 
completed, all ready for the most desperate enterprises ; and f^ng- 
land, with a fleet that made her mistress of the seas, and which he 
did not think he should be able to equal in less than ten years. 
Two such countries, by a proper understanding, might govern the 
world, but by their strifes might overturn it. He said, that if he 
had not felt the enmity of the British Government on every occa- 
sion since the Treaty of Amiens, there would have been nothing 
that he would not have done to prove his desire to conciliate ; 
participation, in indemnities as well as in influence on the Conti- 



LORD WHITWORTH'S DESPATCH. 275 

nent, treaties of commerce, in short, anything that could have 
given satisfaction, and have testified his friendship. Nothing, 
however, had been able to conquer the enmity of the British Gov- 
ernment, and therefore it was now come to the point, whether we 
should have peace or war. To preserve peace, the Treaty of 
Amiens must be fulfilled ; the abuse in the public prints, if not 
totally suppressed, at least kept within bounds, and confined to 
the English papers ; and the protection so openly given to his 
bitterest enemies [alluding to Georges and persons of that descrip- 
tion] must be withdrawn. If war, it was necessary only to say 
so, and to refuse to fulfil the treaty. He now made the tour of 
Europe to prove to me that in its present state there was no Power 
with which we could coalesce for the purpose of making war 
against France ; consequently it was our interest to gain time, and 
if we had any point to gain, renew the war when circumstances 
were more favourable. He said, it was not doing him justice to 
suppose that he conceived himself above the opinion of his country 
or of Europe. He would not risk uniting Europe against him by 
any violent act of aggression ; neither was he so powerful in France 
as to persuade the nation to go to war unless on good grounds. 
He said that he had not chastised the Algerines, from his unwill- 
ingness to excite the jealousy of other Powers, but he hoped that 
England, Russia, and France would one day feel that it was their 
interest to destroy such a nest of thieves, and force them to live 
rather by cultivating their land than by plunder. 

*' In the little I said to him, for he gave me in the course of two 
hours but very few opportunities of saying a word, I confined my- 
self strictly to the tenor of your Lordship's instructions. I urged 
them in the same manner as I had done to M. de Talleyrand, and 
dwelt as strongly as I could on the sensation which the publication 
of Sebastiani's report had created in England, where the views of 
France towards Egypt must always command the utmost vigilance 
and jealousy. He maintained that what ought to convince us of 
his desire of peace, was on the one hand the little he had to gain 
by renewing the war, and on the other the facility with which he 
might have taken possession of Egypt with the very ships and 
troops which were now going from the Mediterranean to St. 
Domingo, and that with the approbation of all Europe, and more 
particularly of the Turks, who had repeatedly invited him to join 
with them for the purpose of forcing us to evacuate their terri- 
tory. 

* ' I do not pretend to follow the arguments of the First Consul 
in detail ; this would be impossible, from the vast variety oj[ 
matter which he took occasion to introduce. His purpose wa? 
evidently to convince me that on Malta must depend peace or war. 



2/6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and at the same time to impress upon my mind a strong idea of 
the means he possessed of annoying us at home and abroad. 

" With regard to the mistrust and jealousy which he said con- 
stantly prevailed since the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens, I 
observed, that after a war of such long duration, so full of rancour, 
and carried on in a manner of which history has no example, it 
was but natural that a considerable degree of agitation should pre- 
vail : but this, like the swell after a storm, ^ would gradually sub- 
side, if not kept up by the policy of either party ; that I would 
not pretend to pronounce which had been the aggressor in the 
paper war of which he complained, and which was still kept up, 
though with this difference, that in England it was independent 
of Government, and in France its very act and deed. To this I 
added, that it must be admitted that we had such motives of mis- 
trust against France as could not be alleged against us, and I was 
going to instance the -accession of territory and influence gained 
by France since the treaty, when he interrupted me by saying ' I 
suppose you mean Piedmont and Switzerland ; " ce sont des 
bagatelles :" and it must have been foreseen whilst the negotiation 
was pending ; ' * vous n' avez pas le droit d' en parler a cette heure. ' ' ' 
I then alleged as a cause of mistrust and jealousy the impossibility 
of obtaining justice, or any kind of redress, for any of His 
Majesty's subjects. He asked me in what respect: and I told 
him that since the signing of the treaty, not one British claimant 
had been satisfied, although every Frenchman of that description 
had been so within one month after that period ; and that since I 
had been here, and I could say as much of my predecessors, not 
one satisfactory answer had been obtained to the innumerable 
representations which we had been under the necessity of making 
in favour of British subjects and property detained in the several 
ports of France and elsewhere, without even a shadow of justice : 
such an order of things, I said, was not made to inspire confi- 
dence, but,' on the contrary, must create distrust. This, he said, 
must be attributed to the natural difhculties attending such suits, 
when both parties thought themselves right ; but he denied that 
such delays could proceed from any disinclination to do what was 
just and right. With regard to the pensions which were granted 
to French or Swiss individuals, I observed that they were given as 
a reward for past services during the war, and most certainly not 
for present ones, and still less for such as had been insinuated, of 
a nature repugnant to the feelings of every individual in England, 
and to the universally acknowledged loyalty and honour of the 
British Government. That as for any participation of indemnities, 
or other accessions which His Majesty might have obtained, I 
could take upon myself to assure him, that His Majesty's ambi- 



LORD WHITWORTH S DESPATCH. 277 

tion led him rather to preserve than to acquire. And that with 
regard to the most propitious moment for renewing hostihties, His 
Majesty, whose sincere desire it was to continue the blessings of 
peace to his subjects, would always consider such a measure as the 
greatest calamity"^; but that if His Majesty was so desirous of 
peace, it must not be imputed to the difficulty of obtaining allies ; 
and the less so, as those means which it might be necessary to 
afford such allies, for perhaps inadequate services, would all be 
concentrated in England, and give a proportionate increase of 
energy to our own exertions. 

* ' At this part of the conversation he rose from his chair, and 
told me that he should give orders to General Andre ossy to enter 
on the discussion of this business with your Lordship ; but he 
wished that I should at the same time be made acquainted with 
his motives and convinced of his sincerity rather from himself than 
from his Ministers. He then, after a conversation of two hours, 
during the greatest part of which he talked incessantly, conversed 
for a few moments on indifferent subjects in apparent good- 
humour, and retired. 

" Such was nearly, as I can recollect, the purport of this con- 
ference. 

" It must, however, be observed, that he did not, as M. Tal- 
leyrand had done, affect to attribute Colonel Sebastiani's mission 
to commercial motives only, but as one rendered necessary, in a 
military point of view, by the infraction by us of the Treaty of 
Amiens. 

* * I have the honour to be, &c. , 

(Signed) ** Whitworth. 

" P. S. — This conversation took place on Friday last, and this 
morning I saw M. de Talleyrand. He had been with the First 
Consul after I left him, and he assured me that he had been very 
well satisfied with the frankness with which I had made my obser- 
vations on what fell from him. I told him, that without entering 
into any farther detail, what I had said to the First Consul 
amounted to an assurance, of what I trusted there could be no 
doubt, of the readiness of His Majesty's Ministers to remove all 
subjects of discussion, where that could be done without violating 
the laws of the country, and to fulfil strictly the engagement which 
they had contracted, in as much as that could be reconciled with 
safety of the State. As this applied to Malta and Egypt, he gave 
me to understand that a project was in contemplation, by which 
the integrity of the Turkish Empire would be so effectually secured 
as to do away with every cause of doubt or uneasiness, either with 
regard to Egypt or any f)art of the Turkish dominions. He could 



278 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

not then, he said, explain himself farther. Under these circum- 
stances no one can expect that we should relinquish that assurance 
which we have in hand, till something equally satisfactory is pro- 
posed and adopted. 

(Signed) ' * Whitworth. 

"The Right Hon. Lord Hawkesbury." 
&c. &c. &c.* 



* The translators have referred, for the exact text of the two despatches, 
given above, to the official publication entitled, ' Papers relative to the 
Dissension with France, presented by His Majesty's Command to Parlia- 
ment in 1803,' and printed by R. G. Clarke, Cannon Row, Westminster. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Commencement of hostilities — Severe treatment of the English in France 
— The First Consul's anger with England is shared by the great Bodies 
of the State — Disloyal conduct of the English Government towards 
France — French troops enter the Kingdom of Naples and occupy Han- 
over — A stricter etiquette is established by the First Consul — A theatri- 
cal representation at the Palace of St. Cloud is followed by the delivery 
of an Ode composed by M. de Fontanes — Adoption of the first chapters 
of the Civil Code— Remarkable share taken by the First Consul in the 
debates on this work — His journey to Belgium — Servility shown towards 
him by the authorities, Civil, Military, and Clerical — Disgust felt by 
the Parisians at such excessive flattery — The First Consul's onward 
progress towards supreme power — He causes propositions to be made 
to Louis XVni., who declines his offers — Dissensions between Napo- 
leon and his brothers — Disagreement between France and Russia — 
First preparations for an invasion of England — M. de Fontanes, Pres- 
ident of the Legislative Body — Re-imposition of taxes on food, under 
the name of droits-re'unis. 

Hostilities followed quickly on the rupture. The English began 
them. Scarcely had the ambassadors of the two nations crossed 
the Channel before an order-in-council was issued authorising the 
pursuit of all French vessels and laying an embargo on those then 
lying in English harbours. English frigates immediately seized 
on some merchant vessels in the Bay of Andierne. * The First 
Consul replied by a violent measure, and one against all the 
usages of war. An act of the Governmentf ordered the arrest and 
imprisonment of all Englishmen over eighteen, and under sixty 
years of age, then in France ; all subjects of the king of England 
between those ages being considered as forming part of the English 
militia. This measure was carried out with the utmost rigour, 

* The orders-in-council of which I am now speaking are dated May 
i6, 1803 (26th Floreal, year XL). 

f I would call attention to the fact that, in the month of Pluviose of 
this year, the names of the Consuls cease to appear in the titles of the 
public acts of the Government. From this time they were drawn up in 
the name of the Government of the Republic. Until then they had been 
intituled : The Consuls of the Republic, which formula disappeared in all 
acts of high administration or of general interest. Nominations to places 
continued to bear the name of the First Consul. The motives for this 
change are sufficiently apparent. 



28o MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and the English who thus became prisoners of war were deprived 
of their Hberty for more than ten years ; they regained it only in 

1814. 

The \'arious documents relating to the measures of hostility 
adopted by the two Governments, were communicated to the 
Council of State in the sitting of the 3d Prairial (May 23). But 
this was a merely formal communication. The Government de- 
cree had been passed on the previous day, and was already being 
put into execution. Advice was neither wanted nor asked for. 
Moreover, it would not have been needed ; irritation had reached 
its highest pitch. 

About the First Consul nothing was talked of but a war of ex- 
termination and Revolutionary measures. A struggle to the death 
was commencing, and even Bonaparte's brothers were carried 
away, forsaking all moderation, and sharing this feeling of deepest 
resentment. It was the same with the highest bodies in the State. 
The Senate, the Legislative Body and the Tribunate vied with each 
other by the speeches of their several members in protestations of 
devotion and in pledges to support a war which involved the 
national honour. The three institutions afterwards proceeded in 
a body to the First Consul and solemnly renewed the protestations 
they had just made within their own walls. The English Govern- 
ment was accused of bad faith in the negotiations and of having 
falsified the papers laid before Parliament in justification of the 
declaration of war. * No means were neglected of inflaming and 

* The French Government caused a remarkable article to be inserted 
in the ' Moniteur' of the 4th Prairial, upon the communications made to 
Parliament by the English Government. This article quoted as an in- 
stance of the highest pitch of impudence and even of folly, an alteration 
in one of the most important notes sent over by Lord Whitworth, that 
one which bears date May 10, and in which the entire paragraph relating 
to the proposed cession of Malta to Russia was suppressed. True 
enough, at the first glance, the suppression seemed inexplicable and 
might lead to the belief, as the article in the ' Moniteur' pointed out, 
that the intention of the English Government had been to conceal an im- 
portant part of the negotiations. But this accusation lost all its weight 
on a careful examination of the papers laid before Parliament, and after- 
wards printed. They contained in full Lord Hawkesbury's despatch to 
Lord Whitworth, in which the proposition to hand Malta over to Russia 
was named, discussed, and rejected as inadmissible, on account of Rus- 
sia's refusal to garrison the island. This despatch, dated May 7, was 
inserted in the English parliamentary papers as No. 68, and contained 
the following phrase : " The French Government proposes that His 
Majesty should yield Malta to a Russian, Austrian, or Prussian garrison. 
If His Majesty were disposed to abate his demand to occupy the island 
temporarily, the Emperor of Russia would be the only sovereign, under 
present conditions, to whom the King would consent that Malta should 
be ceded. But His Majesty is informed that the Emperor of Russia 



ENERGY OF THE FIRST CONSUL. 28 1 

increasing animosity, more factitious, it is true, than real, but 
which was expressed with unbridled violence. England on her 
side did not give an example of greater moderation. She seized 
on ships at sea -before the declaration of war could be known. 
Abuse and defamation of France, and of the family of her First 
Magistrate, filled the columns of the English newspapers, and not 
satisfied with declaring an open war against us, she waged a secret 
war very dishonourable to the English Government. She hired 
assassins, paid agents to promote agitation, fostered internal con- 
spiracies, carried treachery and revolt wherever her gold could 
reach, and gave to the animosity which is justified by open war 
between two rival nations, that odious character of treason and 
disgraceful machination which is dishonouring to the most legiti- 
mate warfare, and which is reprobated by morality as well as by 
the Law of Nations, recognised in Europe, whosoever may be the 
enemy to be encountered. 

The First Consul feeling himself more at liberty since the declara- 
tion of war, and holding everything allowable in self-defence, set 
about extending his conquests on the Continent by way of com- 
pensation for the losses inflicted on our navy and our commerce. 
French troops re-entered the Kingdom of Naples ; Hanover was 
invaded, and barely five weeks had elapsed from the commence- 
ment of hostilities when all the coast of Italy on the Mediterrane- 
an, and the ocean coasts from Andaye to the mouth of the Elbe 
were in the hands of the French, and closed against the English. 

While these military operations were taking place with all the 
rapidity which characterized the First Consul's method of carrying 
out the projects conceived by his daring genius, he was preparing 
to visit Belgium, that he might confirm the inhabitants of that 
wealthy country in their obedience, and strengthen their confidence 
in him at the beginning of a war which was so contrary to their in- 
terests and so destructive to their commerce. But in order, as it 
were, to prepare the public mind for the submission and the hom- 
age toward himself and his consort that he intended to exact dur- 
ing this journey, he held himself more than ever aloof from the 
other Consuls, and established a more marked difference between 
himself and his colleagues. The palace of St. Cloud had now 

would decline to garrison the island." This last assertion might not be 
correct, although in the French documents, as 1 have said, there is noth- 
ing to prove that Russia had formally consented to occupy Malta, and 
all they contain is a further promise of mediation and of guarantees of 
peace. But it was not the less certain that the English Government 
could not be accused of wishing to conceal from Parliament and from the 
country the offers of France and the reasons of their refusal by the Eng- 
lish Cabinet. The accusadon was, therefore, illogical at least. But it 
passed without notice or remark. 



282 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

become a punctilious Court, and access to it was rendered almost 
impossible by a rigid etiquette. A theatre was erected, and the 
performances, given by actors from Paris, were in all things regu- 
lated by the former ceremonial. The Diplomatic Body was in- 
vited in State ; the First Consul sat alone in a large box on the 
right of the theatre, his aides-de-camp and officers on duty stood 
at the back. A similar box on the opposite side was reserved for 
Madame Bonaparte, attended by her ladies-in-waiting. Others 
were occupied by the Consuls, Ministers, Ambassadors and their 
wives. Ever)' one rose on the entrance of the First Consul and his 
wife, who bowed graciously to the assembly. The performances 
were heard in silence, without applause. I was present at one, 
on Sunday the 23d Prairial (June 12), and in addition to the 
novelties of etiquette which I have just described, the performance 
was marked by a curious circumstance. 

The play was Esther. After the tragedy the curtain was lowered ; 
the spectators were about to leave the theatre, when the curtain 
was again raised. An actor made his appearance, with a roll of 
paper in his hand, and read an ode composed by M. de Fontanes. 
Some boldness was required to read verses to ears in which the en- 
chanting harmonies of Racine's verses were still echoing. But 
that boldness was not so offensive as the subject of the poem. M. 
de Fontanes' ode was a bitter diatribe against the English, a pom- 
pous exaggeration of our successes and their defeats. I was on 
thorns the whole time, and, with the great majority of the audi- 
ence, I considered it contrary to all propriety that the Corps Diplo- 
matique should have been invited to listen to abusive satire on a 
nation with whom their respective Governments were at peace. I 
afterwards learned that the poem had been recited by the express 
order of the First Consul, who had read it, and had even required 
the author, who did it willingly enough, to make some alterations, 
not to soften the text, but, on the contrary, to increase the strength 
and point of certain passages. 

Meanwhile, amid the commotion caused in the Government 
Councils by the rupture with England and the consequences it 
entailed, and amid the revival of etiquette and the puerilities of 
ceremonial, which the First Consul combined with the loftiest con- 
ceptions of war and policy, measures of administration and legis- 
lation which deserved the gratitude of the whole nation, were being 
carried out. The session of the Legislative Body had been em- 
ployed in passing the first chapters of the Civil Code, and the con- 
tinuous attention given by the First Consul to the debates on that 
admirable work, was an additional proof of the flexibility with 
which his genius could adapt itself to labours that demanded the 
application of faculties of the most opposite kind. The Code will 



A TRIUMPHAL PROGRESS. 283 

ensure him to the end of Time a distinguished place among cele- 
brated law-givers. Doubtless he received much assistance from 
men experienced in jurisprudence, but the selection he made of 
those men, without respect to political party, was in itself worthy 
of the highest praise. But besides this, he carefully followed the 
debates, and frequently threw a light on difficult questions, regard- 
ing them sometimes from a novel point of view, and with sagacity 
that astonished his councillors. One day in each week, the Thurs- 
day, was devoted to these debates in the Council of State, and 
Bonaparte was seldom absent from the sitting. The Civil Code is 
an exceedingly remarkable production, not only because it attains 
perfection as nearly as it is possible for the work of a human mind 
aided by experience and the progress of knowledge to attain it, but 
also because the period at which that Code saw the light, com- 
bined all the conditions proper to ensure such perfection. 
Former prejudices were destroyed, new ones did not yet exist. 
At an earlier date the Civil Code would have been coloured with 
Revolutionary ideas ; later, when Bonaparte entirely abjured the 
Revolution to return to the antique Monarchy, his reversion to the 
past would have introduced into the composition traces of despot- 
ism, of feudalism and of the nobiliary principles revived by him, 
and which reappear only too plainly in the Penal Code and the 
Code of Criminal Proceedings which were drawn up under the 
Empire. These are unfortunately tempered by the necessities of 
the position he had taken up, of the absolute power which he had 
usurped. 

The Session of the Legislative Body of year XL had been closed 
on the 8th Prairial (28 May), only a few days after the adoption of 
the title of the Civil Code which treats of marriage, and after the 
communications that had ensued on the declaration of war. The 
Tribunate also had ceased to meet, and all legislative discussion 
being thus suspended, the First Consul was at liberty to leave Paris. 

He set out on the 5th Messidor (June 24) for Belgium.* In 
the 'Moniteur' of that month, will be found the addresses which 
were presented to him, and accounts of his reception in the towns 
and even the villages through which he passed. Never had adula- 
tion been carried so far, and it is worthy of remark, that the flat- 

* He passed one day with his brother Joseph, at Morfontaine. He 
was preceded by a Prefect of the Palace, who was furnished with a list 
of the persons who were to be invited to Morfontaine ; on that list there 
was not a single friend of the master of the house. There were two 
tables, and the First Consul refused to admit to his own the ladies who 
had accompanied his mother and his sister Madame Bacciochi to Mor- 
fontaine ; he admitted only the ladies in attendance on Madame Bona- 
parte, his wife. 



284 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tery of bishops and other high clergy surpassed even that of the 
civil and military authorities. Almost equal homage was offered 
to Madame Bonaparte, and had the First Consul in making this 
journey merely wanted to test the servility of Frenchmen and Bel- 
gians, he must have been quite satisfied. He returned convinced 
that he might venture on anything, and made haste to act on the 
discovery. 

I took advantage of the First Consul's absence to join Joseph 
Bonaparte, who, with his wife and his sister-in-law, Madame Ber- 
nadotte, was passing the season at Plombieres. Stanislas Girardin 
and Freville were there also, and we made several excursions 
together in the Vosges, to the Lakes of Gerardmer and Longemer, 
and also to the Ballon d' Alsace. The aspect of those mountains 
and of the smiling valleys of the Moselle made a much more pleas- 
ing impression on me than the mingled admiration and awe 
evoked by the wild majesty of the Alps and the mountains of 
Corsica. 

I returned to Paris in the early part of Thermidor (end of July). 
The First Consul was still absent, but his return was expected every 
day. Although my absence had been short, I perceived a con- 
siderable change in public opinion, and that if the homage ren- 
dered to the First Consul during his journey had added to his 
greatness in the countries through which he passed, it had produced 
quite a contrary effect in Paris. The excessive flattery, the almost 
divine honours he had exacted, or at least had been willing to 
receive, had greatly alienated the Parisians from him, and had in- 
spired feelings akin to disgust in the more sensible inhabitants of 
the capital. It was even asserted that the Chief Judge had been 
obliged * to modify several reports from police agents which con- 
tained a too faithful account of the insulting language used in pub- 
lic places, reports which, had they reached the First Consul, would 
have presented too strong a contrast to the acclamations that had 
delighted him at every stage of his journey. 

Bonaparte arrived at Si. Cloud on the 24th Thermidor (August 
12) ; on the 27th he came to Paris and received the civil and mili- 
tary authorities in great state. He was ovenvhelmed with speeches 
and harangues, f In the evening there were illuminations and 

* The Ministry of Police had been suppressed in the preceding year, 
and its business had been added to that of the Chief Judge or Minister of 
Justice. 

t The Tribunate had at first resolved to go in a body to Dammartin to 
meet the First Consul, and to express their wishes in the following terms : 
" The Tribunate votes that the Consular dignity shall be hereditary in the 
Bonaparte family." But the First Consul objected to this. His motives 
will be seen hereafter. 



BONAPARTE AND LOUIS XVIII. 285 

a concert in the gardens of the Tuileries. The First Consul ap- 
peared on the centre balcony and was vociferously greeted. There 
was no great crowd, however, and there was but little general ex- 
citement and no gaiety. 

At this epoch the First Consul seriously occupied himself in the 
realisation of the great projects he had conceived long before, and 
which seemed easy of execution since his progress in Belgium. 
This is, therefore, a fitting place in which to describe his mode of 
developing those plans, and the variations which he made in them. 
For although the goal to be reached was always that of supreme 
power, accompanied by a style and a title that should place him on 
a level with the other sovereigns of Europe, Bonaparte wavered 
long as to the system he should adopt, and the title by which he 
should be designated. Although it was generally believed that the 
securing of hereditary power in his family was a part of his plan, 
he was at first far from holding it as a principle, and he did not 
resolve on adopting it until he became aware that on such con- 
ditions only would the Senate consent to invest him with sover- 
eignty. Heredity was the soundest guarantee which that body 
could obtain against the dangers of an uncertain succession, by 
which its own prosperous existence would have been endangered. 
For the details on the subject which I am about to give, and which 
I learned and noted down almost daily, I am indebted to Joseph 
Bonaparte, who kept me informed of every little circumstance that 
occurred. These details will reveal some of the drawbacks of great- 
ness, and the heavy price at which it must be bought. And if, in 
my narrative, the hero and his family sometimes appear in an un- 
favourable light, it is because historical truth places them in that 
position. No spirit of satire shall pervade my story, but neither 
will I seek to disguise the truth respecting any of the characters 
in it. Ambition may perhaps be taught a useful lesson by my 
history of past events if it should ever seek such a lesson, or would 
be willing to profit by it. Bonaparte's first step was an overture to 
Louis XVIII. , made at the beginning of 1803. Either the First 
Consul, shortly after the battle of Marengo, in October 1 800, had 
really received a letter from that Prince, as Joseph Bonaparte 
assured me at the time, and that its contents had led him to hope 
for success in the proposal he was now about to make ; or he was 
led to take this step on account of the advantage he would have 
derived from a renunciation of the throne of France, which, by 
rallying all the Royalists round him, would smooth his own way 
to it. At all events, it is certain that in the month of Pluviose, 
year XI. (February 1803), he had a proposal conveyed to Louis 
XVIII. , who was then residing at Warsaw, that he should re- 
nounce his rights to the crown and require a like renunciation from 



286 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the members of his family.* On these conditions the King was 
to receive a pension of two millions (francs) a year. The propo- 
sition was rejected by Louis XVIIL, and his reply, dated P'eb- 
ruary 26, 1803, is as noble as it is firm. It was published in all 
the English newspapers, accompanied by the adhesion of all the 
princes of the House of Bourbon then living, f 

This negotiation, which, had it succeeded, would have given a 
certain colour of legality to Bonaparte's ascent of the Throne, hav- 
ing failed through resistance as generous as it was unexpected, he 
withdrew into himself, and relied only on his own genius and 
lucky audacity for the accomplishment of his designs. But what 
is to be the form of the new monarchy that he intends to found ? 
Joseph Bonaparte spoke on this subject to Girardin, Freville and 
me, during our stay at Piombieres in the following terms : — 

" To reign alone and to assume a title which shall harmonise 
with those borne by the heads of European States is with my 
brother a fixed idea. His letter to the pretender, his whole con- 
duct, the honours which he had paid to him, those he exacts for his 
wife, are the results of calculation, and intended to familiarise pub- 
lic opinion with, and prepare it for, the great change that is im- 
pending. He believes that his best course is to obtain, from the 
docility and weakness of a populace that in his heart he despises 
for its servility, all that a sovereign can exact, before he assumes a 
sovereign's title ; for he is convinced that when once the reality of 
power is obtained, the step which will confer a denomination of 
that power is easy. He has hesitated long between the titles of 
King and Emperor, but has at last decided on the latter. In 
the public opinion of Europe generally, the idea of a King implies 
a power, modified to a certain extent by an aristocracy, an in- 
termediate caste, and an order of succession which compensates by 
its security and stability for the disadvantages of arbitrary power. 
He who b^ars the name of King is himself fettered, he is restrained 
by customs which he cannot always bend to his caprice ; and an 
established system of heredity, by naming the successor beforehand, 
rallies malcontents round the heir-apparent and gives rise to hopes 
which are independent of the actual ruler. 

" Such a system does not suit my brother. He intends that, 
with the exception of himself, all shall be equal ; that his head 
only shall rise above the level at which all others without distinc- 

* It was believed at the time, in Paris, that this proposition had been 
made through the medium of Prussia, and that conjecture was correct. 
It will be seen hereafter how the First Consul represented this step, in 
his speech to the Council of State on the 3d Germinal, year XII. (March 
24. 1S04), on the occasion of the death of the Due d'Enghien. 

t See the * Morning Chronicle' of July 25, 1803. 



LAPLACE. 287 

tion shall remain ; that no intermediate body shall interfere with 
his authority ; that the peace and repose conferred on the nation 
shall be so exclusively his work that the imagination can conceive 
nothing but trouble and confusion on looking beyond him ; that 
uncertainty as to his successor will embarrass contending parties ; 
and lastly, that the power of appointing or changing that successor 
will be a powerful means of encouraging the hopes of the am- 
bitious, and of attaching to himself all those whose fame or whose 
influence on public opinion might render them dangerous enemies, 
by the hope of so great an inheritance which he will dangle before 
their eyes. 

" The title of Emperor and the ideas formerly associated with 
that title, and which he intends to revive, suit those views. No 
heredity, no reigning family, no intermediate caste ! No obstacles 
during his life to be offered by the ambition of military leaders ; 
because, being their master in the art of war, he has no dread of 
their renown, which is surpassed by his own, and because he 
leaves them the hope of obtaining after his death the position he 
has created and occupies. No resistance from the State Bodies of 
which he is even now head, according to the present order of 
things ! No apparent changes in that order ; the Senate is to 
remain. Presided over by himself, and the submissive instrument 
of his will, that body will be responsible for the phantom of 
National Representation that may still be suffered to exist. Lastl}^, 
even the word Republic may survive. The vain semblance of that 
form of Government will still console those who go straying about 
trying to realise the dream of it in the midst of a frivolous and cor- 
rupt people, ruined by seductive theories. ' ' 

These intentions of the First Consul, and especially his aversion 
to a hereditary system, which would have associated his family with 
his own greatness, were deeply displeasing to his brothers, and 
were the origin of the dissension and enmity that shortly afterwards 
broke out among them. The First Consul wished to make one of 
them Chancellor of the Senate, an office instituted by the Senatus- 
Consultum of the 14th Nivose of that year. But both Joseph and 
Lucien, to each of whom the post was offered, obstinately refused 
it. They regarded the offer as merely a method of eluding prom- 
ises that had been made to them, and' of removing them from the 
supreme rank, by appointing them to functions, which mere Sen- 
ators without any pretensions to such rank could as easily fulfil. 
Bonaparte's brothers conceived that by accepting they would have 
thrown in their lot with the crowd from which it was their ambition 
to separate themselves. On their refusal, the celebrated geometri- 
cian Laplace was appointed, and performed the duties of his post 
with a blind submission which never failed, until fortune turned 



288 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

against his benefactor ; then he found an opportunity of placing 
his officious suppleness at the service of the Bourbons. 

When Joseph Bonaparte informed me that he had been offered 
the Chancellorship of the Senate, and that he was determined to 
decline it, I tried in vain to induce him to accept a position which 
was to my thinking by no means derogatory. But I could not 
overcome his resistance, which was encouraged by his brother 
Lucien with every argument that his fertile mind and his own in- 
flexibility of purpose could suggest. My attempts to soothe his 
extreme indignation failed utterly. *' He shall deceive me no 
longer," he exclaimed ; *' I am sick of his tyranny, of his vain 
promises, so often repeated and never fulfilled. I will have all or 
nothing ; let him leave me in my privacy, or offer me a position 
which will secure power to me w-hen he is gone ! In that case I 
would bind myself, I would pledge myself. But if he refuses this, 
let him expect nothing from me ! Is not the fatal power that he 
exercises over France, over Europe, which his insatiable ambition 
has disturbed, enough for him, without his dragging me after him 
as his slave, proposed first to the respect, and then to the scorn of 
his generals,* who, taking no orders but from him, will either 
trample me under foot, or bear my train, according to their mas- 
ter's orders ? What has he done for us as yet ? What powers has 
he conferred on us .'* A prefect in my Department sets me at nought, 
and I have not the slightest influence in the district where I am 
a landowner. But I am a man, and I intend him to discover that 
there are some who dare to refuse submission to his caprices. Let 
him once more drench Europe with blood in a war that he could 
have avoided, and which, but for the outrageous mission on which 
he sent his Sebastiani, would never have occurred ! As for me, I 
shall join Sieves, even Moreau, if need be — in short, every patriot 
or lover of liberty who is left in France — to escape from such 
tyranny V\ 

These words, uttered with deep emotion, revealed all the agita- 
tion of his soul. I discerned in them vehement indignation, excus- 
able, no doubt, but strongly tinctured by an excessive ambition 
which he disguised perhaps even from himself, although he could 
not endure the idea that it was always to be disappointed. 

This ebullition of passion was followed by confidential revela- 
tions. He told me that, wishing to induce his brother to adopt 
the hereditary principle, he had pressed him to put away his wife 
and to marry again, and that he had recapitulated the various 

* The " leaders" of the Senate, instituted by the Senatus-Consultum 
before mentioned, were to be chosen from among the Generals, and took 
precedence over the two great officers, the Chancellor and the Treasurer. 



THE FAMILY '* SITUATION." 289 

arguments in favour of this proceeding which had been discussed 
in our former conversations. Then he added these remarkable 
words : " ' You hesitate ? ' said I, to the First Consul ; ' well, 
M^hat will be the consequence ? Why, that should any natural 
cause bring about the death of your wife, you will pass for her 
poisoner in the eyes of France, in those of Europe, and in mine, 
who know you well ! Who is there that will believe that you have 
not done what it was so clearly your interest to do ? It is better 
to forestall these disgraceful suspicions. You are not really 
married ; you have never consented to have your union with this 
woman consecrated by the Church. Leave her for political rea- 
sons, and do not let it be believed that you have got rid of her by 
a crime. ' 

"I saw my brother turn pale," continued Joseph, "at this, 
and he answered me in these words : * You make me conceive 
that which I should never have thought of, the possibility of a 
divorce. But towards whom, in such a case, should I turn my 
thoughts ? ' ' Towards a German Princess, ' I replied, * or the 
sister of the Emperor of Russia. Only take this step, and you 
change your own position at once, and ours, without our even 
having to wait for the birth of a child. All is settled by that 
alone, the family system is established, and we are all on your 
side. ' ' ' This advice, which was partly acted on afterwards, did 
not suit the private purposes then entertained by the First Consul. 
It was indeed natural that he should reject it so long as he con- 
tinued averse to the hereditary system, and in addition to the 
motives I have already set forth, his objections were supported by 
his wife and the other Consuls, who were naturally and strongly 
opposed to a scheme of the kind. It must be admitted besides 
that the circumstances of the Bonaparte family were by no means 
favourable to the establishment of the hereditary principle. Its 
chief was united to a woman who could not bear him a child ; his 
eldest brother Joseph had no son, and Lucien had just married * 
Madame Jouberthon, the divorced wife of a Paris stockbroker, by 
whom he had had a child in the previous year. He had therefore 
bestowed the name of Bonaparte on a woman whose beauty and 
wit were indeed remarkable, but whose reputation was not spotless 
in the eyes of the First Consul. Jerome, the youngest of the 
brothers, had married while in America, ayd before attaining his 
majority, a Miss Patterson, the daughter of one of the richest citi- 
zens of Baltimore, and belonging to a respectable family in the 
United States, but the lady was, in the estimation of the First 

* In the beginning of Brumaire, year XII. (end of October 1803). 
Lucien was a widower, he had two daughters by his first wife. 



290 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Consul, far below the rank to which he afterwards raised his youni^ 
brother. Louis alone had contracted a union with the approval 
of his brother Napoleon ; he had married Hortense Beauharnais, 
the daughter of Madame Bonaparte, and she had borne him a 
son, for whom the First Consul displayed so special an affection, 
that it gave rise to the most scandalous reports. After the unfor- 
tunate expedition to St. Domingo,* his widpw, Pauline Bonaparte, 
had married Prince Borghese, f and this was the only side on which 
the Bonapartes were connected with the great families of Europe. 
But that alliance, although illustrious, was not available in the 
sense of the establishment of heredity. 

Lucien's marriage had thrown the whole family into consterna- 
tion, and Joseph himself looked upon it as a serious personal 
calamity. How, indeed, would it be possible to confer rights over 
France on this son of Lucien, to claim for him her homage, to set 
him on the Throne, perhaps on some future day, when he was 
only made legitimate by the tardy marriage of his parents ? 
** Destiny !" exclaimed Joseph, " Destiny seems to blind us, and 
intends, by means of our own faults, to restore France some day to 
her former rulers. ' ' J; 

The First Consul, who was furiously indignant at Lucien's con- 
duct, was at first for using harsh measures against him and his 
newly made wife. But the uncertainty of success, the fear of the 
scandal that would be caused by law proceedings to break the 
marriage, or by an arbitrary arrest, and lastly, the attitude taken 
by Lucien, who seemed disposed to defend himself publicly, made 
the First Consul relinquish an idea conceived in the heat of pas- 
sion, and induced him to resort to a negotiation which Joseph 
undertook. It was agreed that the latter should endeavour to 
persuade Lucien to write a letter to his brother, in which he would 
pledge himself not to allow his wife to bear his name, not to intro- 
duce her 'to the family, and to wait for the legal publicity of his 
marriage, until time and circumstances should permit ; this, he 
was also to pledge himself, should never take place without the 
authorization of the First Consul. On the other hand Bonaparte 
would consent to receive his brother Lucien as if nothing extraor- 
dinary had occurred, would, after the interview, invite him to a 



* It completely failed, and the reverse was attributed chiefly to the 
incapacity of General Leclerc, who was in command. 

f The marriage was celebrated privately at Morfontaine. in the begin- 
ning of Vend6miaire, year XII. (end of September, 1803). Stanislas 
Girardin and myself were witnesses at the legal ceremony. 

X These prophetic words were spokei to me at Morfontaine on the 5th 
Brumairc, year XII. (Oct. 28, 1803). I wrote them down on the same 
day. 



ILL-TIMED PRODIGALITY. 29 1 

play at St. Cloud, and, moreover, would consent to Lucien's wife 
residing with her husband. 

Furnished with these instructions, Joseph commenced his nego- 
tiations, and succeeded in obtaining the letter exacted by the First 
Consul. But either that letter did not come up to his expecta- 
tions, or satisfied with having it in his possession, Bonaparte no 
longer cared to keep his promises, for it is certain that none of the 
conditions to which he had bound himself were fulfilled, and the 
negotiator, indignant at this breach of faith, long and deeply 
resented it. Lucien took advantage of Joseph's anger to get him 
to visit his new sister-in-law, and his example was followed by 
some other members of the family. The First Consul could not 
forgive Joseph for so acting, and an open quarrel ensued between 
them which lasted a considerable time. Lucien resolved on leav- 
ing France, and set out for Italy on the 13th Frimaire (Dec. 5). 
On the eve of his departure, he wrote a note to Joseph, which I 
have read. It was in the following terms. "I am going to 
Florence, Rome and Naples. I have written to Mechin,* to have 
Bernadotte presented as a candidate for the Senate, f Do nothing 
during my absence towards reconciling me with the First Consul. 
I depart hating him. I leave a courier at your service, in Paris, 
whom you may despatch to me, if anything occurs. ' ' | 

Thus had discord in the family-circle separated its members, 
and those domestic dissensions, which could not escape the watch- 
ful eyes of lookers-on, increased the alienation of public feeling 
that had already been shocked by such arbitrary acts as the ban- 
ishment of Madame de Stael from France, § and the dismissal with- 

* The Prefect of the Department of the Landes. 

f Nothing could be more distasteful to the First Consul than this 
nomination. He had at that time a great dislike to Bernadotte ; next to 
Moreau he was the General whom he most dreaded. Lucien Bonaparte, 
however, did not start immediately, as he had said. He remained in 
the neighbourhood of Paris, and only set out for Italy in April, 1804, when 
he had been definitively excluded from the Imperial succession. 

If. Lucien and Napoleon did not meet again until 1815, after the Em- 
peror's return from Elba. 

§ Madame de Stael had returned to France towards the end of Septem- 
ber 1803. She was at once refused permission to live in Paris, and she 
took up her residence in a country-house near the capital. Shortly after- 
wards she received an order to leave France. The First Consul himself 
gave this order in a letter addressed to the Chief Judge, somewhat in the 
following terms : " I hear that Madame de Stael is in the neighbourhood 
of Paris. You will see that she receives an order to leave France withm 
four-and-twenty hours, and you will take the necessary steps for the 
prompt execution of that order. To be accomplished without exposure. 
(The word exposure was scratched out, and noise substituted for it.) 
Matthieu de Montmorency, who displayed under these circumstances a 
truly courageous friendship for Madame de Stael, appealed to Joseph 



292 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

out trial of two assistants of the Mayor of Granville, announced in 
the * Moniteur' of the 15th Vendemiaire, year XII., with the addi- 
tion of the most insulting imputations. Lastly some very ill-timed 
acts of prodigality, among which were a marriage-portion of tsvo 
millions bestowed on Princess Borghcse, and a magnificent resi- 
dence in the Faubourg St. Germain given to Eugene de Beauhar- 
nais, awoke universal envy and dissatisfaction. To these hostile 
sentiments, whose expression was restrained with difficulty by the 
vigilant and effective police, was added great uneasiness caused by 
the misunderstanding between France and the Northern Powers 
with which year XII. began. Russia in particular appeared ill- 
disposed. She announced her intention of supporting Portugal, 
which was at that time threatened by us. The First Consul was 
enraged at this interference, which had interrupted the negotia- 
tions, until then kept alive by a faint hope of pacification. At the 
first diplomatic audience of year XII., Sunday, 2d Vendemiaire 
(Sept. 25), he was very rude to M. Markoff, and a fortnight later 
he omitted to invite him to the play at St. Cloud, at which the 
other ambassadors were present.* M. Markoff, however, being 
anxious to avoid a complete rupture, looked about for some means 
of conciliation, and expressed to me his great wish to be placed in 
communication with Joseph Bonaparte. He complained bitterly 
of Talleyrand, who, he said, had injured him in the estimation of 
the First Consul, and who, having speculated on war, wanted to 
interrupt the mediation of Russia, by preventing the renewal of 
negotiations which might end successfully. " It cannot be to 
Russia's interest," he said, " to let the question between France 
and England be decided in favour of either of those Powers. In 
either hypothesis there will be danger for her ; on the one side of 
a naval despotism, on the other of a continental despotism. Rus- 
sia's real interest is to bring about peace. Nor does she wish to 
impose very hard conditions. I am convinced that all can be 
arranged on the very basis of the last propositions made by the 
P'irst Consul, f But I am unable to negotiate ; every path is closed 
to me ; ever}- means of communication between me and the Rus- 
sian Ambassador in London has been stopped, though it is indis- 



Bonaparte to endeavour to obtain a revocation of the order from his 
brother. Joseph was ready and willing, and tried his best, but without 
success. 

The other members of the Russian Embassy, and the Russians of 
note then in Paris, were invited, but one and all declined the invitation ; 
all made common cause with the ambassador. 

f These propositions were made with the object of placing Malta in 
the hands of Russia, and of accepting the mediation of that Power be- 
tween England and France. 



THE INVASION. 293 



pensable that we should act in concert. I do not, however, aspire 
to conclude so important a negotiation, I only wish to renew it, 
and I think I might succeed if I could meet Joseph Bonaparte." 
I willingly undertook to contrive an interview ; and it took place, 
but availed nothing. Russia' s distrust was increased by the in- 
formation of a projected alliance, offensive and defensive, between 
France and Prussia, that was being secretly negotiated in Paris, 
and every hope that the struggle with England would be termi- 
nated by Russia's mediation vanished. 

Neither these political difficulties, however, nor the obstacles 
thrown in his way by the dissensions that had broken out in his 
family, could arrest the progress of the First Consul. At the same 
time that he attached the Senate to his own interests by the distri- 
bution of the new Senatorships, and that he flattered the national 
vanity by the distribution of various grades of the Legion of 
Honour, in which he included all men of mark, whether civil or 
military, with equal skill and judgment, and all those who had 
distinguished themselves in Science or Art, he wa;s making aston- 
ishingly active preparations for a descent on England. An enor- 
mous number of flat-bottomed boats, rafts, gun-boats and vessels 
of all kinds came forth, as if by magic, from a thousand dock- 
yards. Basins were hollowed out to receive this fleet, wooden forts 
were erected to defend it. Formidable batteries defended the 
Channel coast-line and forbade even an attempt from the enemy. 
Boulogne-sur-Mer was the centre of all these operations. In the 
early part of year XII., the First Consul visited the town several 
times, and his presence inspired the soldiers and the workmen with 
increased zeal. Yet it is doubtful whether he ever seriously in- 
tended to attempt this great enterprise. He was too good a judge 
in matters of the kind not to have recognised how small were the 
chances of success, and in any case I do not believe that he ever 
intended to undertake the invasion in person, to risk his fortune 
and his life on so slight a probability of victory. * But the imagi- 
nation of the people required food, and beyond this, a pretext was 
needed for assembling an immense army at a short distance from 
the capital, so that, being surrounded by these devoted forces, he 
might, if necessary, be borne by them to the Throne. It was also 

* Towards the end of Brumaire, on retuining from one of his visits 
to Boulogne, Bonaparte had a conversation with Joseph on the subject of 
Lucien's marriage, in which he used the following remarkable words : 
*' You think you are necessary while I am absent ? Well, what does it 
matter to me ? I will not go to England, I shall send Ney. Besides, 
there is another resource ; I will only make an expedition to Ireland ; 
thus I reduce it all to an ordinary war ; I will give back Ireland in return 
for Malta, and make peace." 



294 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

well to remove his formidable armies from the eastern frontiers of 
France, and to crowd them along the coast from Ostend to the 
mouth of the Somme, so that Austria, emboldened by their de- 
parture, might attempt to repair her losses and to avenge the insults 
she had recently endured, by a sudden aggression, in which victory 
would seem certain to her. Thus war, the object of all the First 
Consul's desires — war, which only could save him from the critical 
position in which he stood — would again break out on the Conti- 
nent. 

The sequel has sufficiently demonstrated the wisdom of these 
various combinations ; but they escaped the notice at the time of 
even the most astute statesmen. Time alone has thrown light on 
them. At the period of which I am speaking, no one doubted 
that the expedition would take place. Whenever the First Consul 
left Paris, universal anxiety prevailed ; ever^' moment we expected 
to hear that the flotilla' had sailed, and when, for the first time, 
cannon announced Bonaparte's return, it was believed that the 
salute was fired in honour of our first successes at sea. 

Preparations for the expedition, the movement of troops, and 
the coast-defences did not so entirely engross the attention of the 
First Consul as to make him neglect internal administration. His 
astonishing activity sufficed for all things. By a Senatus-Consul- 
tum of the 28th Frimaire (December 20, 1803) the usual form of 
opening the sessions of the Legislative Body was changed. For 
the future, the First Consul was to perform that duty, with a cere- 
monial imitated from that with which the English Parliament is 
opened, and to appoint the President of the Legislative Body from 
among a certain number of candidates. This was one more step 
towards monarchical forms. He, however, adjourned the altera- 
tion of the ceremonial until the following year ; the opening took 
place on the 15th Nivose, year XH. (January 6, 1804) without 
any novel formalities. But he hastened to exercise his right of 
appointing the President. His choice fell on Fontanes, and he 
certainly could not have chosen better in his own interests. Never 
did a man realise more completely the expectations formed re- 
specting him. The imperturbable admirer of all that Bonaparte 
did or wished to do ; so long as that extraortlinary man wielded 
the sceptre, he placed the Body over which he presided, and the 
nation in whose name he frequently spoke, at the feet of an abso- 
lute master, whom he j)romptly deserted when fortune abandoned 
him. The appointment of Fontanes met, however, with general 
disapproval. Even the j)artisans of the Government were alarmed ; 
they perceived with regret the accessibility of the First Consul to 
servility and flattery ; ,they regarded the appointment as a reward 
for the ode that had been recited at St. Cloud, and whose violent 



FINANCE. 295 

declamations against England were all the more offensive as it was 
generally known that, after the i8th Fructidor, Fontanes had taken 
money and favours from that country, which had afforded him a 
secure refuge and generous protection. 

The Government being assured, by the new system of the Sena- 
tus-Consultum, of the subservience of the Legislative Body, and 
no longer fearing even a shadow of opposition, obtained without 
difficulty the financial laws for the augmentation of the revenues 
of the State which the war on which he had entered rendered 
necessary. In the sitting of the Council of State on the 7th 
Nivose, which preceded by a few days only the session of the 
Legislative Body, the First Consul presided, made a statement re- 
specting the financial situation of France, and prepared the minds 
of his hearers with surpassing skill for the necessity of further tax- 
ation. The arguments he used for the re-establishment of indirect 
taxation, which had been abolished ever since the beginning of the 
Revolution, were as follows : — 

' ' The needs of the State for the current year, ' ' said the First 
Consul, ' ' will amount to seven hundred millions, and to meet 
them we have but five hundred and twenty-six millions, viz. , 

Direct Taxation 295 millions. 

Registration 180 ,, 

Customs 25 ,, 

Post-office II ,, 

Lottery 12 ,, 

Salt-pans 3 ,, 

Total 526 „ 



it 



We must, besides, deduct from our estimated receipts the 
sums that are not actually recovered, and those we lose every year 
through the bankruptcy of Receivers-General. These cannot be 
estimated at less than four millions. We can barely reckon, there- 
fore, on a receipt of five hundred millions. Thus, it becomes 
necessary to provide in other ways for what is wanting ; not with 
a view to reach the seven hundred millions that are necessary to 
us on account of the war, but to bring up the receipts of the 
Republic to six hundred or six hundred and fifty millions. It 
will never be able to hold the rank which its position and the extent 
of its territory assign to it in Europe without such a revenue. 

" In order to obtain this, we must establish a system of finance, 
and create beforehand a system which, like the excise in England, 
will enable us to raise indirect taxes, and to establish, as the need 
arises, new branches of revenue. 

" If I consulted my own popularity only, I should not speak of 
fresh taxation just now. You shall see that, owing to the extraor- 



296 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

dinary resources procured for us by our influence in Europe, I 
could perfectly well dispense with it for this year, perhaps even for 
year XIII., and reckoning, with some reason, on the probability 
of success in the war in which we are engaged, I might take the 
credit to myself of carrying on that war without imposing any extra 
tax. But we must think of the future, we must not place the Re- 
public under the necessity of having recourse, at the first reverse 
to our arms, to bad financial measures, such as forced loans, war 
taxes, or additional centimes on the land-tax, which is already 
burdensome to agriculture. 

** Thus the plan presented to you by the Minister of Finance 
comprises not only a provision for the needs of the present year, 
but further a scheme for the collection of several branches of indi- 
rect taxes, such as a new. tax on all kinds of drink, an increased 
productiveness on tobacco, and other taxes." 

After hearing this address, the Council of State decided on the 
'bases of a law which established a new system of taxation on pro- . 
visions, under the name of Customs. * It was adopted by the 
Legislative Body on the 5th Ventose, year XII. (February 25, 
1 804), and is in full vigour at the present day, although the Gov- 
ernment which succeeded that of Napoleon, in order to keep a 
foolish promise of abolishing that kind of taxation, changed its 
name to that of " indirect contributions." A clever invention in 
finance is always sure to prosper. 

* Droiis-r/unis, 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Reconciliation between Napoleon and Joseph Bonaparte — Real, Coun- 
cillor of State, is entrusted with the Superintendence of Police — Estab- 
lishment of General Commissioners of Police in the principal towns of 
France — Debate on this subject in the Council of State — Plot against 
the First Consul's life by Georges Cadoudal and Pichegru— Complic- 
ity of Moreau — Details of the examination of the accused — The Chief 
Judge's report on the facts of the case is communicated to the Chief 
Bodies of the State — Their replies — Examination of Moreau's papers by 
Regnault de Saint Jean-d'Angely and the Author — State of the contribu- 
tions levied by Moreau in Germany — Plan and intentions of the principal 
conspirators — Royalist character of the plot — Pichegru and Cadoudal 
are arrested — The discoveries made by the Police respecting this con- 
spiracy compromise indirectly a great number of persons — Cares and 
troubles of the First Consul — The Due d'Enghien is seized at the 
Chateau d'Ettenheim in Baden by a detachment of French troops — - 

' The Prince is brought before a military commission at Vincennes, is 
condemned to death, and shot — Consternation in Paris — Bonaparte's 
speech to the Council of State concerning this event — Ball given by 
Talleyrand three days after the death of the Due d'Enghien. 

Everything seemed to succeed with the First Consul ; everything, 
except the enmity of his enemies, seemed to yield before him. In 
despair of defeating him on the field of battle, they once more re- 
sorted to the weapons they had formerly employed. Conspiracies 
against his life were formed and subsidized in England. On learn- 
ing the risks daily incurred by his brother, Joseph Bonaparte's 
affectionate nature drew him towards the First Consul. The good 
understanding that had been broken off by family differences was 
restored, and if it was not entirely proof against some fresh shocks 
that came to disturb it, yet, for the time at least, the need of sym-' 
pathy and of giving vent to feeling, had renewed the old confidence 
on both sides. 

In the course of a conversation which took place after their 
reconciliation, and which lasted late into night of the 30th Nivose 
(January 21), the First Consul had freely disclosed his troubles. 
He made bitter complaints that in his family he met with neither 
support nor assistance ; and especially blamed his brothers, who 
took delight in criticising his conduct, in condemning him when 
he affected monarchical forms, and who, far from seconding any 
of his projects, made it their business, as it were, to run counter to 
them all. 



298 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

*' Nor," added he, ** do I find more sincerity anywhere about 

me ; I live in a state of continual distrust ; each day brings forth 
a fresh plot against my life ; each day I receive more and more 
alarming reports. The partisans of the Bourbons, as well as the 
Jacobins, aim at me only, and as both parties know perfectly well 
that their only chance is in my destruction, they are at any rate 
agreed on that one point. For a time I thought I had nothing to 
fear from the adherents of Louis XVIII. , but I have now good 
reasons for believing that they too are conspiring against me. 
However, I have made up my mind, I shall try a descent on Eng- 
land. Victory would enable me to carry out anything I wished ; 
while if, on the contrary, I should fall, it matters little to me what 
happens afterwards !" 

The conversation continued long in this melancholy key, and 
when it was repeated to me on the following day, I could but ac- 
knowledge that the alarm of the First Consul was justified. He 
* was so great an obstacle to the hopes which had been revived by 
the renewal of war ; he had done so little to place his family, his 
partisans, or even the nation, in a position to defend themselves 
when he should be gone ; and he had made himself so much 
feared and so little loved, that among these numerous elements of 
enmity, ambition and political combinations, the springing-up of 
dangerous conspiracies was inevitable. 

It followed, therefore, that the need of an active and watchful 
police was urgent. The First Consul, however, would not re- 
establish an odious Ministry that he himself had suppressed two 
years before. But he substituted for it a Councillor of State 
specially charged with the direction of the Police, and Real, to 
whom those functions were entrusted, contributed greatly by his 
activity and penetration to ward off the dangers that threatened the 
life of Bonaparte and the tranquillity of the State. The appoint- 
ment of Commissaries-General of Police in the principal towns of 
France dates from this period, and the latter measure became the 
subject of a remarkable debate which took place in the Council of 
State on the i8th Pluviose. While admitting the inconvenience 
of having to appeal to the Legislative Body every time that it be- 
came necessary to appoint a Commissary-General in any town, the 
majority of the Councillors of State were of opinion that it was in- 
dispensable to obtain a general law from the Legislative Body 
authorising the Government to appoint those officials according to 
the wants of the administration. I was strongly in favour of this 
opinion, as were also the whole section of the Interior of which I 
was a member. But the First Consul refuted it in the following 
terms : — 

*' We are no longer," said he, " in the period when the Lcgis- 



BONAPARTE'S ARGUMENT. 299 

lative Body could be considered as representing the sovereign, and 
almost as the sovereign himself. That was the assumption acted 
on by the Constituent Assembly, and every one knows what mis- 
fortunes followed on that system, the confusion of power and 
authority that resulted from it, and the abyss into which France 
was thereby plunged. Let us return to wiser principles ! a Legis- 
lative Body is, from its nature and composition, unfitted to deal 
with the administration and to enter into its details. It cannot 
either know or judge of its requirements ; publicity of debate would 
deprive administrative measures of both the secrecy and the force 
of opinion which should attend them, and which alone can ensure 
their success. Only generalities should therefore be submitted to 
the Legislative Body, and these should be restricted to purely 
speculative subjects, such as the laws of the Civil Code, and of 
Procedure, with the addition however of those concerning Taxa- 
tion, which should always be approved by it. 

' ' By adhering to this system, it is evident that the resistance of 
the Legislative Body, either to consent to taxation, or to adopt im- 
portant measures on which public opinion may have pronounced, 
would have such results that the Government would be obliged 
either to have recourse to the Senate to dissolve the Legislative 
Body, or to change its Ministers and its Council, on perceiving 
itself to have been led astray or carried too far by them. These 
are great and inevitable crises of which everybody can perceive the 
advantages and the dangers, and in which the nation is always in a 
condition to judge between the two parties. 

• ' But to give to the Legislative Body the power of arresting the 
operation of the Government in details — ^and such would be the 
infallible result of obliging the latter to have recourse to it for those 
details — is to place the Government in the cruel alternative of either 
permitting itself to be impeded at every step, and thus to concur in 
its own gradual destruction, or to have recourse to violent measures 
not sufficiently justified by the importance of the matter, and which 
would ruin it in public estimation and favour. 

** This being premised, I understand that, if the Legislative 
Body refuses a law of the Civil Code, or one concerning the general 
interests of Society on which opinion may be divided, we must 
yield and consider ourselves beaten without making any objection. 
The refusal, therefore, of a tax would alone oblige us to make use 
of the means of dissolution, because every one knows that such a 
refusal is a declaration of war against the Government, which in 
that case must defend its existence. 

* ' But, in the special case which we are considering, let us sup- 
pose that the Legislative Body refuses the particular or general law 
that we should propose to it ; upon this matter, in the first place, 



300 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

we should have made it the judge of the utiHty of the measure, 
and, as it cannot be a good judge, in the absence of all information 
and of all light by which to guide itself in forming an opinion, a 
grave inconvenience at once arises ; one all the more grave because 
the Legislative Body is never responsible for its opinion. In the 
next place, it would have placed us in the alternative of which I 
have already spoken, by forcing us either to renounce a police 
measure which we feel to be necessary, or to take the extreme step 
of dissolving the Legislative Body, a step which should be reserved 
for extraordinary circumstances, and which in this case would not 
be recognised as needful. 

' ' The Section of the Interior and Citizen Miot have therefore 
misapprehended the question in asserting as a principle that we 
must ask for a law. It. is doing no service to the Legislative Body 
to call upon it to discuss and decide questions on which it can, in 
reality, have no opinion. This was all very well, Avhen it invaded 
all the provinces of authority and regarded itself as sovereign. 
Such foolish theories have now passed away. The Government, 
the Senate and the Council of State represent the nation equaljy 
with the Legislative Body. We must follow the spirit of the Con- 
stitution, not the letter, and that Constitution, of which I have 
been one of the principal architects, never intended to confer on a 
deliberative assembly, essentially foreign to the administration, an 
influence on the direction of affairs which it has expressly, for the 
sake of the peace and stability of Europe, reserved to the Govern- 
ment. ' ' 

After so decided a declaration, there was an end to discussion. 
The project of law was abandoned, and Commissaries-General 
were appointed by mere acts of the Government in some of the 
large towns, such as Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lyons, Nantes, &c. 

Meanwhile, the Paris police, directed by Real, were on the track 
of conspiracies formed in England against the life of the First 
Consul. They had arrested an individual named Querelle, and 
this man's revelations had led them step by step to the discovery 
of the person who had given shelter to the famous Georges 
Cadoudal, who was known to be in Paris. This person, an in- 
habitant of St. Leu-Taverny, in the valley of Montmorency, was 
arrested. But Georges had escaped. At the same time, thirteen 
men coming from I^ngland, and who were deceived by the use of 
signals, which Querelle, or another accomplice, named Picot, had 
made known to the police, landed on the coast near St Valery, 
and were seized on the spot. In a short time, the prime movers 
in this vast conspiracy were reached, and the chief leaders, among 
whom were men hitherto totally unsuspected of a share in it, were 
discovered. 



THE CADOUDAL CONSPIRACY. 3OI 



On the 25th Pluviose (February 15) an extraordinary sitting of 
the Council of State was convoked. The Ministers were present. 
The First Consul presided, and after he had briefly set forth the 
leading features of the plot, he proceeded in these words : 

" It is with great pain that I have now to tell you that some 
illustrious names are concerned in this conspiracy. That Pichegru, 
already accused and convicted of treason to his country, should 
have consented once more to serve our enemies, does not surprise 
me. But that General Moreau should have joined him, that they 
should have abjured their former enmity, to attack me in concert 
and overturn the Government, is what I could never have sup- 
posed, and have only come to believe after a long investigation. 
Unfortunately there is no longer room for doubting this complicity ; 
Pichegru has been in Paris for some days past. His purpose in 
coming was 'to guide the assassins, to rally the malcontents 
together, and to prepare a disturbance, and Moreau has seen him, 
has had several interviews with him. I know, in particular, that 
they met on Monday last (February 13) on the Boulevard, near the 
Madeleine. A man named Lajolais, whose wife was for a long 
time Pichegru' s mistress, and at whose house in Paris he lodged, 
acted as a go-between for the two Generals, and arranged their in- 
terviews. I have had Moreau arrested. Lajolais and some other 
persons implicated are also in custody. Pichegru is followed. 

* * The Government has not acted on suspicion or vague alarms. 
Both writings and avowals are in our hands. The whole proced- 
ure will be conducted by the Tribunals, and everybody will be en- 
abled to convince himself of the reality of the plot, and of the 
complicity of the persons I have named. 

*' All this is the work of England. I am astonished, however, 
that England has been able to bribe such men. Because, after all, 
is not Pichegru the conqueror of Holland ? Is not Moreau re- 
nowned for his victories ? Was it not Dumouriez who first con- 
quered Belgium ? Is it not inexplicable that they could sacrifice 
so much glory to the passions of a party, which, if it ever gets the 
mastery, will but tarnish that glory, and bring to shame those who 
have gained it ? 

" I have summoned the Council of State and the Ministers, to ex- 
plain to them the causes of an event which is sure to make a great 
sensation, and to give them the means of informing public opinion, 
and of preventing it from going astray, or beyond the reality. 

' ' Things are not yet sufficiently advanced for me to make them 
the matter of a message to the different State bodies. Before mak- 
ing the affair more public, we must wait until the course of pro- 
cedure shall have discovered further facts, which will remove all 
possibility of doubt from even the most ill-disposed minds." 



302 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

No one having spoken after this communication, the First Con- 
sul brought the sitting to a close. 

The Councillors of State followed him to his Cabinet, to con- 
gratulate him on having escaped a fresh danger, and when the 
conversation afterwards became less restrained, he informed us of 
several remarkable circumstances. One of the men who had been 
arrested, after making some important disclosures, had hanged 
himself. Another, named Bouvet, one of those principally accused, 
had tried to strangle himself with his sheets, and as most important 
information was expected from him, it had been found necessary to 
promise him a pardon, and to send the Chief Judge to him to con- 
firm it, so as to restore him to himself, and calm his excitement. 
General Moreau had been arrested on the high road, as he was 
returning from his coiintry-house at Grosbois, by an officer of the 
Gendarmerie, who entered his carriage and drove with him to the 
Temple. 

On the next day, the 26th Pluviose, at the sitting of the Council 
of State, the First Consul, who was presiding, ordered Real to 
read to us the result of the examinations of the principal persons 
accused of the conspiracy. I shall dwell in this place only on the 
depositions of Bouvet and Lajolais, which refer to Generals Piche- 
gru and Moreau, and which are still interesting, since they may 
guide our judgment of these two celebrated men. 

Bouvet, whom I mentioned before, was Adjutant-General in the 
Royalist army of La Vendee. He had come from England and 
landed on the French coast with Pichegru and Cadoudal, with the 
sole purpose of supporting the cause of the Bourbons. But he had 
speedily discovered that he was being tricked by Pichegru, who 
was working for himself and for Moreau, whom he meant to place 
at the head of the State with the title of Dictator. 

Lajolais' information was more precise. The first part of his 
examination, in which he declared he had never left France, was, 
however, a tissue of falsehood. But on being more closely 
pressed, and perceiving that the truth was already known, in the 
second part of his examination he confessed everything ; he had 
been in England and had returned to France with Pichegru in the 
preceding January, and, together with another person named 
David,* he had acted as go-between for Moreau and Pichegru. 
The latter had at first lodged at Chaillot and afterwards in Paris, 
where he had three interviews with Moreau. The last had taken 
place on the Boulevard between the Madeleine and the Rue 



* This David had been arrested towards the end of Brumaire, year XII., 
at Calais, on his return from England, and removed, in Frimaire, to the 
Temple, in Paris. 



THE CADOUDAL CONSPIRACY. 303 

Caumartin. Moreau had promised to come to the appointed place 
at nine o' clock in the evening. He came wrapped in a long coat, 
wearing a round hat. Lajolais recognised him, and went to apprise 
Pichegru, who, with Cadoudal, was waiting in a hackney carriage 
at the end of the Rue Basse-du-Rempart. Lajolais brought 
Pichegru to Moreau, and they walked together along that part of 
the Boulevard which is situated between the Rue Neuve-des-Capu- 
cines and the Rue Louis-le-Grand, which was out of the space 
brightly illuminated by the moonlight. Lajolais discreetly with- 
drew. He did not assert that Cadoudal was a party to this 
interview. 

The Chief Judge, accompanied by the Secretary of the Council 
of State, had interrogated Moreau on the preceding evening. His 
answers, which were read to us, consisted merely of denials. He 
denied that he had seen Pichegru, and even that he knew he was 
in Paris. This system, which the General himself gave up shortly 
afterwards, seemed ignoble and unworthy of him. * 

Two days later, the Chief Judge's report containing the state- 
ment of the facts I have just related, was communicated to the 
Senate, the Legislative Body and the Tribunate. 

I was present with the Legislative Body on the 27th Pluviose 
(February 17) when the report was read, but it was difficult to 
judge what impression it produced ; every one was on his guard. 
The reply of the President was well written, but full of affected 
warmth. The orator spoke of Charlemagne, and compared the 
Founder with the Restorer of the French Empire. When the 
Councillors of State who had been the bearers of the Message from 
the Government had withdrawn, the Assembly formed itself into a 
general Committee. Several orators, Vaublanc, Ramon, Coupe 
and others, spoke with approval of the measures taken by the Gov- 
ernment. On a motion made by them, it was agreed that a depu- 
tation should be sent to the First Consul. 

On the same Message being read to the Tribunate, General 
Moreau' s brother, who was a member of that body, rushed into 
the Tribune and made a fiery, but incoherent speech. He accused 
the Chief Judge's report of being calumnious and untrue, and still 
more General Murat's f order of the day, which had been promul- 
gated the day before. He strongly asserted Moreau' s innocence, 

* He afterwards relinquished this system of denial, and on the 17th of 
the following Ventose he wrote to the First Consul, acknowledging him- 
self guilty of some acts of imprudence. 

t General Murat had been made Commandant of Paris on the 24th 
Pluviose. The order of the day referred to above is very insulting to 
Moreau. It was not published in the ' Moniteur,' but may be found in 
the " Publiciste' ' of the 27th Pluviose. 



304 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

proudly recalled the victories of a hero so unjusdy attacked, and 
ended by demanding judges and a public trial for his brother. 
Some sensation was f)roduced by this speech. Curee, one of the 
members of the Tribunate, replied to his colleague, and lauded 
the extreme feeling he had displayed. Treilhard, a Councillor of 
State, one of the Government orators, ascended the Tribune a 
second time, and promised that the proper judges for General 
Moreau should be entrusted with this important trial.* 

On the next day, the 28th Pluviose, the Council of State was 
summoned to the First Consul's Cabinet, to be present at the re- 
ception of the deputations from the Senate, the Legislative Body 
and the Tribunate. The discourses of the Senate and the Legis- 
lative Body, pronounced by Berthollet, Vice-President of the Sen- 
ate, and Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body, consisted 
chiefly of platitudes. The First Consul responded in similar 
terms ; but, for the first time, he read his replies. Hitherto on 
these occasions he had always spoken extempore. 

The address of the Tribunate contained a sort of apology to 
General jMoreau. Not only did it throw doubt on his guilt, but 
it did not even refer to him as accused, but made use merely of 
the word " denunciation." This speech deeply offended the First 
Consul, and he allowed his feelings to appear in his reply, which 
he pronounced extempore. " The greatness of INIoreau's former 
sen'ices, " he exclaimed, " is not a sufficient motive for removing 
him from the control of the law. There can be no Government, 
if a man, by reason of his past services, is to be held to be above the 
laws, which should apply to him as to the merest private citizen. 
What ! Moreau is already regarded as guilty by the first Bodies in 
the State, and you do not even treat him as accused !" 

On concluding his reply, he abruptly dismissed the deputation 
from the Tribunate, and when it had retired, he continued to 
converse for some time with us. He was greatly disturbed ; his 
agitation and displeasure were evident. 

In the ' Moniteur' of the succeeding day, which contains an 
account of these deputations, the address from the Tribunate was 
entirely altered. Ever}'thing that had offended the First Consul 
was suppressed, and I\Ioreau's name did not even appear. The 
article added that the First Consul had replied to the Tribunate in 
almost the same terms as to the Senate and Legislative Body, 
which, as I have just shown, was far from the truth. 

Meanwhile the investigations of the police threw fresh light 
daily on the conspiracy in which Moreau was implicated, and left 

* The above is reported briefly and incorrectly in the * Moniteur* of 
the 28th Pluviose. 



THE CADOUDAL CONSPIRACY. 305 

no doubt, if not of his guilt, at least of the fact of his recent inter- 
course with Pichegru, and his approval of the projects formed for 
the overthrow of the Consular Government. At the time of the 
General's arrest, the papers found in his house were handed over 
to Regnault de Saint Jean-d' Angely, who requested that I might 
be associated with him in the task of examining them. We there-* 
fore undertook this labour jointly, but I could discover nothing in 
any of the documents which were examined by me that had any 
reference to the conspiracy under investigation. I found some 
satires and a few epigrams on Bonaparte and his family in various 
letters addressed to Moreau by sundry dissatisfied Generals, but 
they were not worthy of attention, and I said nothing about them. 
One document was remarkable enough, but as it had no concern 
with the matter before us, I let it also pass in silence. This was 
an account of the contributions raised in Germany during the years 
VIII. and IX. They had amounted to forty-four million francs. 
Of this sum, nine millions had not been recovered, and various 
other sums were also missing. In short, the net receipts from 
these contributions amounted to twenty-four millions paid over to 
the Paymaster-General, and eight millions paid over for Moreau' s 
private use, and of which he had given no account. Of the latter 
sum, a certain portion, estimated at half, had been spent on secret 
or extraordinary service, and distributed as rewards to the Generals 
and other officers of the army. The surplus had apparently re- 
mained in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief. 

I was soon relieved from this painful duty. Shortly after Reg- 
nault and I had commenced the investigation, the papers were all 
handed over to General Savary by order of the First Consul, and I 
heard no more of them. 

But I had been made acquainted by this occurrence with some 
of the reports made by the police, and had an opportunity of form- 
ing an opinion on the whole matter, and on Moreau' s share in it. 

To begin with, I became convinced that the plot against the 
First Consul's life had really existed ; that it had been hatched by 
partisans of the Bourbons, suborned by England, although no 
Englishman had taken an active part in it. In the next place, it 
became equally clear to me that the authors of the conspiracy would 
not be satisfied with striking at Bonaparte, unless they were pro- 
vided with a man to put in his place, to occupy the interval that 
must necessarily exist between the fall of Bonaparte and the restora- 
tion of the Bourbons. It was evident that, after striking so great 
a blow, to leave the result to chance would be to run the risk of 
allowing their greatest enemies to reap all its fruits. On the death 
of Bonaparte, a member of his own family might succeed him ; a 
new convention might be formed ; the Republican party might 



306 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

resume the ascendant ; the army pronounce in their favour, and 
thus the Bourbons be permanently, or at least for a long time, put 
aside; The Royalists therefore required a man who, when Bona- 
parte was no more, would easily obtain the suffrages both of the 
army and of the nation, whom the Senate could openly select, and 
whose appointment would be approved by public opinion. At the 
same time this man must be one who would hold out greater hopes 
to the Bourbons than Bonaparte, for he had realised none of the 
expectations that he had for a moment allowed them to entertain. 
Moreau, on account of his enmity to Bonaparte, the spell of his 
victories, the weakness of his character, and the laxity of his prin- 
ciples, was the very man that was wanted. Thence the imperative 
necessity of making sure of him. Pichegru, already in communi- 
cation with him through the intrigues of David and Lajolais (for 
he would scarcely have ventured on coming to Paris, if such com- 
munications had not taken place), had undertaken the negotia- 
tion, and it had succeeded. I did not indeed believe that Moreau 
had taken any active part in the scheme of assassination ; but that 
he had concerted with Pichegru what was to ensue upon the event, 
and the means of taking advantage of it, seemed to me to be be- 
yond a doubt.* I also believe that he had not given his consent 
to the return of the Bourbons, and that the possibility of retaining 
the supreme power for himself, or, at the most, of sharing it with 
Pichegru, had occurred to him, and inspired him with the hope of 
reaping all the benefits of the crime committed by the partisans of 
the Bourbons. Thus, he was clearly not working for them, and if 
he served them, it was without his knowledge. Moreover, 
Pichegru would probably not have insisted strongly on the point ; 
in the first place, because he recognised the necessity of a less 
abrupt transition between Bonaparte and the Bourbons ; and 
secondly, ' because the matter of real importance was to raise 
JMoreau to the first rank, to make sure of his numerous partisans, 
and above all to get rid of the Bonaparte family and the generals 
of the army of Italy. I was the more confirmed in my opinion 
that the coalition between Moreau and the Royalists had been 
made with that reservation, because, independently of the prize 
thus offered to Moreau' s ambition in the future, he could not 
doubt that the adherence of a considerable number of his partisans, 
and the approval of the Senate must depend on the certainty they 
would feel that he had no intention of bringing back the Bourbons. 

* R6al had told me that one of the accused, named Rolland, when 
under examination said that Moreau, in reply to an overture that had 
been made to him concerning the plot, had used the following significant 
words : " Let Pichegru undertake to rid me of the three Consuls and of 
the Governor ; I am sure of the Senate." 



THE CADOUDAL CONSPIRACY. 307 

Even Cadoudal must have been made a party to the transaction, 
and must have consented to it ; because, although the fall of Bona- 
parte and the rise of Moreau would not bring about the immediate 
restoration of the Bourbons, it was nevertheless a great step in 
their favour. But it had been impossible to confide all these things 
to Cadoudal' s followers, or to make them understand the necessity 
for this modification. At the first suspicion of an agreement 
between Moreau and Pichegru which had not for its objects the 
immediate recall of the Bourbons, they would naturally take alarm 
and manifest dissatisfaction. In such a conjunction of things, if 
one of them was apprised of the truth, it followed that he would 
betray Moreau and Pichegru. This was precisely what occurred 
on the arrest of Bouvet, who, desiring to labour for the Bourbons 
only, did not hesitate, on receiving a promise of pardon for 
himself, to make admissions that implicated Moreau. Without 
those admissions the General's name would not have appeared in 
this affair. 

Such is the light in which I regarded at that period the whole 
conspiracy and the machinery which had put it in motion. The 
sequel confirmed my first impressions, and I now remain convinced 
that the design and progress of the plot were such as I have just 
indicated. The causes of its failure are equally plain. The web, 
no doubt, was strongly woven, and its ramifications were widely 
extended ; for such men as Dumouriez (who, although he re- 
mained in the background, had a great part in its execution) and 
Pichegru would not have gone so far, if they had not been certain 
of strong support from within. The readiness with which returned 
or amnestied emigres accepted places, their influence in the electoral 
colleges, which they entered in crowds, announced, not indeed 
their conversion to the system then prevailing in France, or their 
gratitude to the First Consul, but their hopes of a restoration of 
the former order of things, and their desire of a complete counter- 
revolution. If Moreau would have consented to lead the army in 
the same direction (which his military renown might perhaps have 
made it easy for him to do) he might have played the part of Monk, 
for which he was, by character, more fitted than Bonaparte, who 
had always rejected and despised it. But unity of design was 
wanting to this great conspiracy. Moreau wanted, by overthrowing 
Bonaparte, to avenge himself and to usurp his place ; he took no 
account of the Bourbons. The exclusive partisans of the Bourbons 
desired their restoration only, and would consent to no compromise 
on that point. The medium party, which hoped either to share 
the supreme power with Moreau, or to make use of him, so as to 
bring back the Bourbons at a later period, stood between the two 
extremes, and was suspected by both. Thus, so soon as the con- 



308 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

spiracywas detected by spies, and one of its members was arrested, 
the police had but to Hatter personal interests, or to excite per- 
sonal resentments, in order to lay hold of the thread. This was 
accordingly done, and Moreau appeared on the scene. Pichegru 
and Georges Cadoudal were betrayed by their own followers, and 
fell into the hands of the police. * Notwithstanding the suppression 
of trial by jury in the case of crimes against the State, a suppression 
that had been decreed by a Senatus-Consultum ; notwithstanding 
further modifications in the usual manner of conducting criminal 
trials, proceedings could only be taken against individuals actually 
accused of having taken part in the conspiracy, and could not 
therefore touch all those persons who were indicated by the police 
reports as being, if not actors, at least secret abettors of the at- 
tempt against the existence of the Government and the person of its 
Chief. The greater number of these were returned emigres^ who 
had been sufferers by the events of the i8th Fructidor, year V. ; 
some of them were even members of the Senate. 

These discoveries and the suspicions which they excited deprived 
the First Consul of all repose. His troubles increased daily. The 
Bourbon Princes were said to be ready to return to France ; he 
was asked to believe that some of them were already in Paris. He 
was made to feel the impossibility of baffling so many conspiracies 
by the simple lAachinery of ordinary law. Some strong measure, 
some coup d' Etat was needed to bring these constantly recurring 
troubles to an end, and to tranquillise, not only the partisans of 
the Revolution, but also members of the old noblesse, and those 
returned emigres, who, having accepted appointments, in the army, 
the administration, and even in the household of Bonaparte, all 
equally dreaded the return of the Bourbons. 

The First Consul, thus urged by two opposite parties, who for 
the moment united to attain a common end, influenced also by 
the instinct of self-preservation, and above all by the hope of rais- 
ing an enduring and insurmountable barrier between France and 
the Bourbons, resolved on striking a decisive blow, for which 
Talleyrand prepared the way. 

It was known in Paris that the Due d'Enghien was residing at 
the castle of Ettenheim, in the Margravate of Baden, with the 
Princess Charlotte of Rohan-Rochefort. The presence of the Du ke 
in such close vicinity to the French frontier might, in the present 
difificult conjuncture, be supposed to be a reasonable cause of un- 

* Pichegru, having been betrayed by a stockbroker named Leblanc, 
was arrested on the Slh Ventose in the Rue de Chabanais. Georges 
Cadoudal was arrested on the iSth of the same month, after a desperate 
resistance. The gates of Paris had been closed for several days, and 
this measure ensured the capture of Cadoudal. 



THE DUG D'ENGHIEN. 309 

easiness to the Government by contributing to encourage the hopes 
of its enemies. Nothing therefore could have been more simple 
than to require from the Margrave of Baden the dismissal of a 
guest whose presence had become an obstacle to the continuance 
of a good understanding between the two countries. Such a re- 
quest would have been reasonable, and doubtless it would not 
have been refused. But this measure, the only one that justice 
could approve, was indecisive and insignificant. More than this 
was required, or at least Bonaparte thought so, to satisfy and tran- 
quillise the few remaining Jacobins and also those members of the 
nobility who had come over to his side. Talleyrand, who was at 
the head of the " noble" party, and at the same time Minister of 
Exterior Relations, did not shrink from taking steps in the latter 
capacity to arrive at a far more definite result. He wrote to the 
Margrave of Baden, in the name of the First Consul, informing 
him that a detachment of French troops had orders to arrest the 
Due d'Enghien, and the letter, which was afterwards published, 
and some portions of which were known in Paris at the time, con- 
tained the following remarkable sentence. " The conduct of the 
Bourbons towards the First Consul gives him a right to pursue 
and to take them in every place, and by any means whatsoever." 
A. false and odious maxim, subversive of the first principles of the 
rights of man, and of the reciprocal independence of nations ! 

Caulaincourt, who was ordered to arrest the Due d'Enghien, set 
about his task with the greatest despatch. He sent a detachment 
from the garrison of Strasburg to the castle of Ettenheim. The 
Prince was taken by force, was removed first to the fortress of 
Strasburg, and taken from thence, travelling post, to Paris. I heard 
these particulars on the evening of the 28th Ventose (March 19) 
from Joseph Bonaparte, who had been in complete ignorance of the 
affair until then. We puzzled our brains over the motives of this 
extraordinary proceeding ; we were very far from foreseeing its end. 

On the following day, some of the newspapers announced the 
arrest of the Prince, but the ' ' Moniteur' ' made no mention of the 
fact. 

The next morning, the 30th Ventose (March 21), I, and some 
of my colleagues, were at Regnault de St Jean-d' Angely's house ; 
Joseph Bonaparte was there also. We were discussing what ought 
to be done about the Prince who had been arrested at Ettenheim ; 
and endeavouring to forecast the effect that would be produced by 
either severity or clemency. But while we were thus conversing, 
the fate of him of whom we spoke was already decided ; that un- 
fortunate Prince was no longer in existence. 

According to accounts we received while we were still at Reg- 
nault' s house, the Due d'Enghien, accompanied by an officer of 



3IO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

gendarmerie who had shared his carriage from Strasburg, arrived 
on the preceding evening at the barrier of Pantin. An officer in 
command there ordered the carriage to be turned back. Some 
uncertainty as to the execution of that order had caused a short 
delay. Finally an orderly officer brought positive instructions 
that the Prince should be taken to Vincennes. This was done by 
driving round the outskirts of Paris, along the fortifications. He 
arrived at his journey's end at seven in the evening, and was im- 
prisoned in the Keep. A few hours later a court-martial * was 
formed, the Due d'Enghien was brought before it, and sentence 
was pronounced on the spot, f The Prince was unanimously con- 
demned to death, taken at daybreak to the castle moat, and shot 
by the gendarmes. 

It would be difficult to describe the sensation which this occur- 
rence produced in Paris. Disturbance, dismay and consternation 
prevailed. People did not dare either to speak together or to ask 
any questions. This first blood shed under circumstances so terri- 
ble and revolting, this first stain on a character that until then had 
been free from all reproach of cruelty, this adoption of the forms 
of the Revolutionary Tribunals during the Convention, created 
profound alarm. It looked like a sign of interior change, like 
the development of evil passions, of which this deed was but a first 
manifestation. People feared that the First Consul, having once 
entered on this sanguinary path, would not be able to draw back 
from it. They trembled to see him surrounded by servile instru- 
ments, and judges who were ready to condemn the accused before 
he had been brought before them. Happily these sinister fore- 
bodings were not realised. The blood spilt on that fatal occasion 
was precious, that cannot be disputed ; the sentence was iniqui- 
tous ; but it is the solitary instance in which, during the whole of 
his tenure of power, Bonaparte deserved such a reproach. 

On being brought before the Court, the Due d'Enghien had at 
once admitted that he had borne arms against France. ** I have 
been proscribed," he said, "for fifteen years, and, having no 
longer a country, I have made war on France, but I have made it 
honourably." 

He denied that he had any part in the projected assassination 
of the First Consul, and declared that he had never been implicated 
in any plot of that nature. 

* The Court consisted of five officers of the rank of Colonel, a Cap- 
tain of Gendarmerie acting as reporter, and a Captain of Infantry of 
the Line as Registrar. Their names are given in the ' Moniteur' of the 
1st Germinal. The President of the Court was General Hullin. 

f As the sentence was passed after midnight, it is dated the 30th Vcn- 
tose, year XIT. (March 21, 1804). 



AFTER THE DEED. 3II 

On learning his sentence, he demanded to speak with the First 
Consul ; but an interview, which would perhaps have prevented a 
crime, was refus~ed to him. 

During the rest of the week marked by this fatal catastrophe, 
Bonaparte remained at Malmaison alone with his wife, an officer 
of the Guard, a Prefect of the Palace, and a Lady-in- Waiting. 
No other person had dined with him, and Madame Bonaparte was 
forbidden to receive any other lady. 

It was said at the time that she had urgently interceded with 
her husband to obtain the life of the Due d'Enghien. but that all 
her entreaties had failed to shake his determination. But, 
although her well-known kindness of heart places it beyond a 
doubt that she would have made every effort to save the Prince, 
had she known of his impending fate, it is difficult to believe that 
she had an opportunity of doing so. How, indeed, could she have 
made the attempt, however natural it would have been, in the short 
time that elapsed between the sentence and the execution ?* 

Fouche had at first been named among the dangerous advisers 
whose counsels had been followed by Bonaparte ; but, in addition 
to its being very unlikely that the First Consul asked the advice of 
any one, a rumour prevailed that Fouche had been opposed to the 
death of the Due d' Enghien, and he was said to have made use of 
the expression, which has since then become famous : " It is more 
than a crime, it is a blunder. ' ' Talleyrand was said to have been 
in favour of the death-sentence, and to have gone too far for re- 
treat. But I cannot speak with certainty on this point. Joseph 
Bonaparte, the only person who could have enlightened me, either 
did not know the facts, or did not choose to confide them to me. 

Several papers had been seized at Ettenheim ; among them was 
a list of persons in France on whom the Prince might have relied. 
This list was said to contain the names of certain Councillors of 
State, such as Barbe-Marbois, Simeon, Portalis and others. It 
has been proved by subsequent events that these imputations were 
not unfounded ; it is therefore all the more remarkable that no 
injury resulted from them to the persons involved. They contin- 
ued to enjoy Bonaparte's favour and to serve him so long as his 
power lasted. These reports, however, whether true or false, had 
spread general alarm ; the most absurd rumours were circulated. 
A Bourbon Prince was, it was said, concealed in the house of the 
Austrian Minister, who had given him an asylum ; Duroc had 
gone to Vienna to negotiate for permission to search the ambassa- 

* The sentence had been pronounced at Vincennes between two and 
three in the morning, and at four o'clock it was executed. See note by 
the translators in the Appendix. 



312 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

dor's house, &c. In short, general alarm prevailed, and, as the 
Government had restricted itself to publishing an account of the 
court-martial at Vincennes in the " INIoniteur" of the ist Germinal 
without adding any explanation, that alarm was increased by all 
that Parisian credulity chose to add to the reality. 

The First Consul emerged at last from his retirement. He 
appeared at the Council of State on the 3d Germinal, and deliv- 
ered the following speech, which I consigned to writing on the 
same day : — 

" I can scarcely conceive that in so enlightened a city as Paris, 
in the capital of a great empire, such ridiculous rumours can be 
credited as those which have been circulating for the last few days. 
How can any one believe that a Bourbon Prince is here, that he is 
hiding at the German Ambassador's house, and that I have not 
dared to have him arrested ! People who believe this must know 
me very little ; and must have a poor idea of the policy that 
should guide the Government. If the Due de Berr}', if any Bour- 
bon were in hiding at the house of JNI. de Cobentzel,* I should not 
only have had him seized, but shot on the same day, and M. de 
Cobentzel with him. If the Archduke Charles were in Paris, and 
he had afforded an asylum to one of those princes, I should have 
done the very same thing ; he should have been shot. We live 
no longer in the time of sanctuary. We are not obliged, as were 
the Athenians,! to respect the temple of Minei^va, which had to be 
unroofed so that a general who had fled thither might be seized 
because the people dared not take him within the precinct. 
Europe and the nations are ruled by other ideas at the present 
day. To suppose that I have despatched Duroc (who has not left 
Paris) to the Emperor to obtain permission to search the house of 
his ambassador, when one of our greatest enemies is supposed to 
be in hiding there, is to degrade France to the level of the pettiest 
republics of Europe, to that of Genoa or of Venice ; and yet even 
the latter ordered the arrest of the Marquis de Bedmar. J Such 

* Count Philip von Cobentzel was at that time Austrian Ambassador 
in Paris. 

f This quotation is incorrect. The circumstance occurred at Sparta 
with regard to Pausanias, who had taken refuge in the temple of the 
Minerva of Chalcis. 

X There is an error here also. The Marquis de Bedmar was not 
arrested by the Venetian Senate ; but his house was searched, and he 
made loud complaints on the subject. He appeared before the Senate to 
defend himself in person against the accusation in question. The Senate 
could only protect him from the fury of ihe people by sending him under 
escort to the place of embarkation. 

These errors are of no real importance, and do not detract from the 
rude eloquence of this remarkable speech. 



AFTER THE DEED. 513 

rumours, such suspicions as these are derogatory to me, and also 
to the ambassador of whom I have no reason to complain. I 
have therefore thought it right to make the Council of State 
acquainted with the whole truth, so that the men who compose 
it may rectify public opinion and direct it towards more reasonable 
conclusions. ' ' 

' * I have, moreover, ' ' continued the First Consul, after a short 
interval, ' ' caused the Senate to be informed of the particulars of 
the correspondence organised by Drake ;* they also shall be laid 
before the Council, which will be enabled to judge of the princi- 
ples by which the English Ministers are guided, and whether we 
owe much consideration to those, who under the cloak of diplo- 
macy organise assassination and atrocious crimes. We shall see 
what is due to a family whose members have become the base 
tools of England. Let not France deceive herself ! For her there 
will be neither peace nor quiet until the last Bourbon shall have 
been exterminated. I had one of them seized at Ettenheim. On 
my first request, the Margrave consented to my seizing him, and 
how, indeed, should the law of nations be claimed by those who 
have planned an assassination, who give orders for it, and pay 
for it ? By such a deed alone they put themselves beyond the 
pale of European nations, f And then people talk to me of the 
right of sanctuary, of violation of territory ! What utter nonsense ! 
They know me very little. My veins run with blood, not water. 

' ' However, I am bound to state, that in this city of Paris those 
men found neither shelter nor partisans. None of the returned 
or amnestied emigres are implicated. Hitherto, I protest I have 
had no reason to complain of them. Perhaps in their hearts they 
may have desired a change, but it belongs to God alone to look 
into the conscience ; I can only judge of actions. J Therefore I 
am far from changing the maxims of Government, far from con- 

* Drake, an envoy from England to Munich, where he was residing in 
1803 and 1804, gained celebrity as a spy, and by the intrigues which he 
carried on during his various missions. Papers relating to a correspond- 
ence he had organized in the interior of France were laid before the Sen- 
ate. They were also sent to all the members of the Diplomatic Body in 
Paris, who replied, in the name of their respective Courts, by assurances 
of absolute adhesion to the First Consul. These replies may be seen in 
the ' Moniteur* of the 7th Germinal, year XII. ; they vie with each other 
in adulation. See also the ' Moniteur' of the 4th Germinal, in which 
these documents are published, also a pamphlet, by Mehee, which ap- 
peared at this time with the title of ' Alliance des Jacobins avec le min- 
istere Anglais.' 

t This is the dangerous maxim laid down in Talleyrand's letter to the 
Margrave of Baden. 

X Such a principle cannot be too much praised in the head of a Gov- 
ernment. 



314 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

dcmning a number of people in a mass. I shall seize and I shall 
strike guilty individuals, but I shall take no wholesale measures. 
I repeat it, the maxims of the Government shall not be changed. 

" I ordered the prompt trial and execution of the Duo d'En- 
ghien, so that the returned emigres might not be led into tempta- 
tion. I feared that the long delays of a trial, the solemnity of 
condemnation, might revive sentiments that they could not have 
refrained from exhibiting ; and that I might have been obliged to 
hand them over to the police, thus extending instead of narrowing 
the circle of the guilty. * 

" The Duke was, moreover, tried by a court-martial, to which 
he was amenable ; he had borne arms against France, he had made 
war on us. By his death, he has repaid a part of the blood of two 
millions of French citizens who perished in that war. It will be 
seen by the papers we' have seized that he had established himself 
at Ettenheim so as to carry on a correspondence with the interior 
of France. I arrested him in the Margravate of Baden. Who 
knows whether I might not also have seized the other Bourbons 
who are living at Warsaw } Do people suppose that they live there 
without my knowledge } On the contrary, they live there entirely 
because of my consent. Paul,f who was a man of logical mind, 
after making peace with me, himself proposed to banish the Bour- 
bons from his states. Austria would shelter none of them, and I 
shall not make peace with England until she consents to the total 
expulsion of the Bourbons and the emigres. 

"But, as it was necessary to allow them to live somewhere, 
Warsaw was named, and I consented to this. I went even farther ; 
on the proposition of the King of Prussia, and in order to with- 
draw the remaining members of the family from the influence of 
England, I was resolved on making them a suitable allowance, 
and I believe that in so doing the Republic would have made a 
political sacrifice favourable to its tranquillity. I am aware of the 
ridiculous rumours to which this negotiation has given rise ; it was 
said that I had exacted from those princes a renunciation of the 
Throne, \ and that their refusal to comply with that condition had 
caused the whole negotiation to fail. There is not a particle of 
truth in this absurd story ; the facts are those I have just laid 
before you." 

The First Consul paused after the above words ; he then trans- 

* He had said to Trujjuet, two days before, " Well, there is one Bour- 
bon the less ! I wished to spare him the terror of death by having him 
shot at once." 

f The Emperor of Russia, who was assassinated in March 1801. He 
had, in truth, conceived a passionate attachment to Bonaparte. 

X This alludes to his letter to Louis XVUI. 



A RECEPTION. 315 



acted some business of little importance and broke up the sitting 
at an early hour. 

On the following day, Sunday, the 4th Germinal (March 25), 
he held a reception at the Tuileries, at which the various authori- 
ties, generals and other persons of distinction hastened to present 
themselves. He conversed with everybody, repeated in part what 
he had said to the Council of State, used the same arguments, and 
seemed on the whole to be seeking for general approbation. A 
deputation from the Legislative Body, which had risen on the 
previous day, was also received by him, and President Fontanes, 
who was spokesman, delivered an emphatic panegyric of the First 
Consul, but did not in any way allude to the terrible event that 
was in the thoughts of all. The words " Republic" and " Bour- 
bons' ' did not even occur in his speech. 

Meanwhile the gates of Paris remained closed, and the prosecu- 
tion of all those who had taken part in the conspiracy was carried 
on. Two of the Polignacs, M. de Riviere, and several others, had 
been arrested. 

Amid all these scenes of terror and alarm, M. de Talleyrand 
found means to distinguish himself by a piece of egregious flattery. 
On the 3d Germinal, three days after the death of the Due d'En- 
ghien, he gave a ball. Two months previously Madame de Talley- 
rand had refused to be present at a ball, inadvertently fixed by M. 
de Cobentzel for the 21st January, the anniversary of the death of 
Louis XVL '* How could one dance on such a day as that.?" 
she had said. And M. de Cobentzel postponed the festivity. 
What then can we think of such scrupulousness, and of the 
indecency of giving an entertainment, as it were, to the crack of 
the muskets which had just shot a near kinsman of that same 
Louis XVL ! Nevertheless, the keen and painful sensation created 
in Paris by that grave catastrophe rapidly subsided, or at least it 
was carefully ignored by the habitual courtiers of power. As for 
the people of Paris, their curiosity was soon attracted to other sub- 
jects, and they forgot an event which at first had strongly moved 
them. Besides, it must be owned, they neither remembered nor 
loved the Bourbons, of whom they had quite lost sight. And they 
had, unfortunately, been too long accustomed to scenes of blood- 
shed, for this one to strike them as more extraordinary or more 
distressing than so many others which they had witnessed. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The First Consul is obliged to accept the principle of heredity in the suc- 
cession to the supreme magistracy — Address from the Senate, asking 
for that guarantee of stability — Public opinion is in favour of Heredity 
— Preliminary debate on the date of the adoption of that principle, and 
on the title to be assumed by the Chief of the State — Bonaparte makes it 
a point that hereditary power should be offered to him by the Revolu- 
tionary Party — Restrictions placed by him on the hereditary system — 
f The question is discussed by the Council of State — The First Consul re- 
verts to the idea of adopting the son of Louis Bonaparte as his succes- 
sor — He makes an overture to Louis with that view — Indignation of 
the latter and of Joseph Bonaparte — The First Consul is reconciled 
with his brothers, and resolves to include them in the succession — 
Louis is appointed General of Division, and Joseph accepts command 
of a regiment of the line — A Privy Council summoned at St, Cloud 
adopts heredity, and decrees that Bonaparte shall assume the title of 
Emperor, and shall be consecrated and crowned as such — The First 
Consul sends a message to the Senate to elicit a clearer statement on 
the new institutions that are to be established — The Senate appoints a 
Committee for that purpose — At the Tribunate, a motion, offering the 
Crown to Bonaparte, is made by Cur6e, and seconded by Simeon — The 
Senatus-Consultum adopting the proposition of the Tribunate is sub- 
mitted to the Council of State, and is definitively adopted by that body 
—The Senate conveys to the First Consul at St. Cloud the law proclaim- 
ing Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of the French. 

The danger Incurred by the First Consul through the machinations 
of the conspirators who were now in the hands of justice, naturally 
recalled his thoughts to the execution of his projects for supporting 
his authority by a more imposing title than that of Consul, and 
one which, according to his notion of the influence of names on 
the mass of mankind, would render his person more inviolable. 
The addresses of congratulation that poured in upon him daily 
from all parts, and filled the columns of the ' Monitcur ;' the 
submissiveness of the Senate, secured by his liberality and ex- 
pressed in the obsequious utterances of Fontanes ; the fresh glory 
he had acquired by the promulgation of the Civil Code, which had 
been completed in the recent session ; the marble statue decreed 
to him in the name of the French nation by the Legislative Body, 
as a mark of gratitude for so great a boon ; all these things con- 
tributed to confirm him in his intentions, and the efforts of his 



THE FALL OF MOREAU. 317 

enemies to destroy him had but accelerated his progress towards 
the Throne, by ridding him of his only formidable rival. For, 
whatever might be the decision of the Tribunals, Moreau was for 
ever ruined in the estimation of the army. His at least apparent 
complicity in murderous plots, or in schemes for the restoration of 
the Bourbons, had deprived him not only of the confidence of the 
troops, but also of that of the Patriots, in spite of the uneasiness 
excited among that party by Bonaparte' s ambition ; and, moreover, 
it had cost him the esteem of all generous minds, to whom be- 
trayal, under whatever mask, is always abhorrent. 

The First Consul was too clever not to turn these circumstances 
to account. He perceived that the Senate in general, many of 
whose members would have failed him had Moreau been more 
successful or more adroit, had feared for their own existence at 
least as much as for that of the Government ; and that having 
escaped that danger, it was ready to take any steps to prevent a re- 
currence of it, and would not be averse to bestowing a crown, if 
under shelter of that crown it might be certain of enjoying in peace 
the wealth which it owed to generosity that had a corrupting influ- 
ence. 

To satisfy the exigencies of the moment, it was, however, 
necessary to modify the plan originally concocted by the First Con- 
sul. The arguments adduced by the Senate to prove the necessity 
of filling up the void left by the Constitution of the year VHI. , and 
the subsequent Senatus-Consultum respecting the mode of succes- 
sion to the supreme magistracy, were principally as follows : So 
long as the manner of succession should not be defined, the First 
Consul would be the only object of attack, whether from within or 
without, and were that successful, everything must come to an end 
with him. If, on the contrary, his successor were to be declared, 
if after his death everything was to remain in statu quo, if the prog- 
ress of government was not disturbed, the fall of its actual head 
would become of less importance ; for, failing him, there would 
still be security for others. Hence, there would be fewer con- 
spiracies to fear, since even if successful they would be fruitless ; 
and hence also would come repose and security, that until now 
had been wanting. 

Heredity, therefore, and its accompanying advantages had 
become the great necessity of the time, and whatever had been 
Bonaparte's dislike to the system, he found himself obliged to ac- 
cept it. We shall see, however, that, owing to family circumstances 
and the divisions existing among his relatives, he was not able 
to adopt it simply and openly, and we shall also see by what means 
he modified it, and what forms he essayed before he adopted that 
system which he finally selected. 



3l8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The veil whicli had until then hung over these projects was first 
lifted by the Senate, four days after the closing of the legislative 
session. On the 7th Germinal (March 21) the Council of State was 
convened for an extraordinary sitting. We were introduced into 
the Cabinet of the First Consul, and shortly after our arrival the 
Senate, in a body, was introduced. At its head came Senator 
Lecouteulx de Canteleu, the Vice-President, who read the address 
that the Senate on the preceding day had decreed should be pre- 
sented to the First Consul. 

The address began by acknowledging the receipt from the Gov- 
ernment of the documents relating to the secret correspondence 
carried on by Drake, the English Minister. The Senate, while 
expressing their indignation at the disgraceful conduct of that diplo- 
matic agent, glanced at events then taking place in the interior of 
France, where they descried criminals guilty of high treason, but 
with none to judge them. This was a flaw in the constitution, for 
* the great genius who had framed it had shrunk from believing a 
crime of that nature to be possible, and therefore had not provided 
for its repression. But if gratitude was due to him for that which 
he had done and even for that which he had not done — since the 
omission proceeded from a noble magnanimity — the Senate never- 
theless could not refrain in the present conjuncture from demand- 
ing that it should be repaired. They proposed, therefore, the 
establishment of a High Court and a National Jury, for the special 
purpose of trying crimes of high treason. The speaker added : 
" It would not be sufficient, Citizen Consul, thus to punish crimes 
of which the safety of the State demands the suppression ; in ad- 
dition to this, all hope must be abandoned by those who might be 
tempted to imitate such an evil example. At the very least, crime 
must be made unprofitable to those who venture on it. We feel 
the need of. institutions that will ensure to our children the happi- 
ness we ourselves enjoy, that will consolidate your work and ren- 
der it as immortal as your glory. In short, it is indispensable that 
the vessel of the State should run no risk of losing her pilot, with- 
out being provided with anchors which in so dire a misfortune 
would prevent her from becoming a total wreck." 

The First Consul answered in a few words ; that he was touched 
by the sympathy of the Senate, and by the sentiments expressed 
through their Vice-President. He continued : " I recognise, as 
you do, that there is a defect in the constitution, with respect to 
punishment of crimes against the State, and that it must be reme- 
died. The Government will attend to this during the coming year. 
With regard to anything that might tend to consolidate the present 
system, I shall always be ready to take the opinion of the Senate, 
and to act in concert with them." 



THE ADDRESS. 319 



' Neither the address of the Senate nor the First Consul's reply was 
published in the * Moniteur,' but rumours of this unusual event 
were in circulation everywhere and produced a very great sensation. 
It was generally believed to have been a preconcerted affair, and 
such was my own opinion. Joseph Bonaparte and Roederer, 
whom I saw in the course of the day, protested, however, that this 
was not the case, and that Boissy d' Anglas and Fouche, two mem- 
bers of the Committee entrusted with the reply in acknowledgment 
of Drake's correspondence, had suggested the two principal points 
of the address : the first, by proposing the creation of a national 
jury, in order to try crimes of high treason ; and the second, by 
asking for a pledge of future stability. The other members of the 
Committee had been induced to adopt both propositions, without 
clearly perceiving the drift of the second ; and as the actual word 
heredity was not contained in the address, these members were 
quite surprised that others should discover in it what they them- 
selves had failed to see, although it was obvious enough. 

The signal was given, and every one was full of the self-evident 
results of the step taken by the Senate, one which Fouche was 
much too clever to have suggested, unless sure beforehand that it 
would not be displeasing. No one discussed the first part of the 
address, which was regarded merely as a means of transition to the 
second. Who could believe, moreover, in the guarantee to be 
given by the institution of a National High Court .? The condem- 
nation of the Due d'Enghien, the law-proceedings without a jury 
in the case of General Moreau, the power of altering the ordinary 
forms of justice by the Senatus-Consultum, or even by simple acts 
of the Government, were instances of too recent a date to allow us 
to persuade ourselves that the new tribunal would offer a serious 
obstacle to the enterprises of a power which had hitherto never 
recognised any, or had overleaped them all. 

But the proposal to establish heredity was regarded in quite a 
different light, and I must admit that, on the whole, it seemed 
reassuring rather than alarming. Not that any personal affection 
toward the First Consul disposed the people to look favourably on 
this fresh accession of greatness to himself and his family — never 
had he been less liked — but there was such pressing need of repose 
and stability, the future was so gloomy, the general apprehension 
so great, the return of the Bourbons with so many injuries to avenge 
was so much dreaded, that they eagerly strove to avert dangers 
against which they felt themselves defenceless. The national spirit, 
moreover, had been broken by a long series of misfortunes and 
revolutionary excesses. The friends of liberty and philosophical 
ideas had lost even hope ; their long-cherished dream of a Republi- 
can Government had faded, and, wearied with useless efforts, they 



320 MExMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



only sought to escape from two misfortunes, equally inevitable on 
Bonaparte's death, the return of the Terror, or that of the Bourbons. 

Thus, however revolting it might be to see heredity established 
in a new family over the bleeding corpse of a Bourbon, and by 
means which threatened illustrious soldiers with the scaffold, the 
prospect was not unwelcome, because of the apprehension which 
then prevailed throughout society. Nor did Paris stop at mere 
conjecture, but, half in earnest, half in irony, the capital sketched 
out beforehand and after its own fashion a plan for the new order 
of things then in preparation. It was now the beginning of spring, 
and the drive to Longchamps, in obedienfce to the dictates of 
Fashion, which just then consisted in a return to past customs, was 
more crowded and more brilliant than ever. After an inspection 
of the faces and the toilettes as they passed by, the critics occupied 
themselves with the great political changes now impending. 
Everything was regulated and settled. "Bonaparte to be Em- 
peror ; the dignity to be hereditary in his family ; the two Consuls 
to be abolished ; Lebrun to retire to his country seat ; Cambaceres 
to be Chancellor of France ; Madame Bonaparte to be repudiated, 
and the Margrave of Baden, who had acted so efficiently as sergeant 
to Bonaparte on the occasion of the arrest of the Due d'Enghien, 
was to provide him with a wife, in the person of one of the prin- 
cesses of his family. Citizen Bonaparte would then be brother- 
in-law to the Emperor Alexander. He would have a child ; it 
would be a boy. Time would soon have spread a veil over the 
origin of all these things. The theatre was ready ; only a few 
persons had been behind the scenes, and spectators willing to pay 
would not be wanting. The curtain might be drawn up." 

With such levity as this, such carelessness of the past and the 
future, did we familiarize ourselves with so momentous a change. 
A few witticisms, a few epigrams, a little ridicule cast on the com- 
ing titles, sufficed to console the Parisians for the loss of liberty. 

In presence of so fickle a nation, why should the First Consul 
have hesitated ? He was more than ever convinced that the time 
had come, and he did not let it slip. Two days after the presen- 
tation of the address from the Senate, he had a conversation with 
Lecouteulx de Canteleu, which the latter, on returning home, 
committed to writing, and repeated to Joseph Bonaparte on the 
nth Germinal (April i). I was present on the occasion, as were 
also Senator Roederer and Stanislas Girardin. 

The First Consul had admitted the necessity of confirming the 
actual order of things, and did not disguise from himself that 
heredity was one of the surest means of attaining that end. But 
was this the right opportunity, while war was being carried on, and 
before the conclusion of the trial in which Moreau was implicated ? 



NOLO EPISCOPARI. 32 1 



Could such a step be taken without the concurrence of the people, 
which had been obtained for the Life-Consulship ? Should not so 
great a distinction be the reward of a splendid victory, or of a peace ? 

Such were the questions raised by the First Consul, and, as the 
reader perceives, they did not touch the theory which was already 
conceded, but only the choice of an opportunity, and the influence 
of circumstance. 

Lecouteulx had answered these objections. He had pointed out 
to the First Consul that the question was not so much his own 
personal convenience, as that of the nation, and especially that part 
of it which had been active in the Revolution ; that circumstances 
called for a speedy solution ; that the death of the Due d'Enghien, 
and the trial of Moreau, far from banishing these ideas, had made 
them more familiar to every one, and their execution more urgent ; 
that the Senate had committed itself ; that all the great bodies of 
the State were in like case, and, in short, that to hesitate was to 
increase the danger. 

The First Consul seemed to yield to Lecouteulx' s arguments, 
and a conversation ensued on the title to be assumed by the Chief 
of the State. It was from the first admitted that he could not retain 
one which was common to the two other Consuls ; but the choice 
of the title he should assume was a difficult point. Bonaparte 
asserted that he did not wish to take that of Emperor, and that a 
denomination analogous to the title of Stadtholder would be more 
suitable. In short, would it not be better to retain the name of 
Consul, and confer a different title on Cambaceres and Lebrun ? 
The interview ended, and the First Consul had not yet distinctly 
declared himself. Yet it was obvious enough that the principal 
difficulties had been smoothed away, and that since the only subject 
in dispute was the fitting time and title, an agreement would soon 
be come to on all points. 

When Lecouteulx had finished reading his MS. , of which the 
above is a faithful abridgment, Joseph Bonaparte proposed to 
discuss the two points that had been left undecided. 

As to the first, concerning the date at which the new system was 
to be established, we were of opinion that since the proceedings of 
the Senate had been made public, the result could not be too soon 
accomplished ; that there would be a great disadvantage in leaving 
the people in a state of uncertainty at a moment when their feel- 
ings towards the First Consul were less warm than formerly, and 
the necessity of immutable institutions had never been more 
strongly felt. On the one hand, the Revolutionists (and with them 
must be included those nobles and returned emigres, who had at- 
tached themselves to the First Consul), feeling easy, since the 
death of the Due d'Enghien, as to the return of the Bourbons, 



322 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

their one great subject of fear, were quite satisfied to see the 
supreme jx>\ver fixed in a family which afforded them pledges on 
this head that could not be offered by any other form of Govern- 
ment. On the other hand, the moderate part of the nation, seek- 
ing for protection both from Jacobins and Bourbons, found the 
security it required in heredit}'. Partisans, qf the ancient dynasty 
only, might therefore look with aversion on the new institution, 
but there was little to fear from them at that moment ; there were 
even grounds for believing that the new system once founded, they 
would lose all hope, and would find it impossible to engage in 
further conspiracies. 

As to the title which should be assumed by the Chief of the 
State, opinions were divided. And although I already knew which 
would be preferred, I thought it my duty to express myself openly 
on the subject. " It appears to me," I said, " that the First Con- 
sul should retain the title he now bears, and bestow another on 
his two colleagues. By so doing there is a possibility of prescning 
for the State at least the naiiie of Republic, held dear by a large 
part of the nation ; and although the reality has already disappeared, 
we shall avoid offence to prevailing ideas by allowing the survival 
of the word. To this advantage we may add another, that of avoid- 
ing objectionable comparisons. A Consular family may be any- 
thing you please, there is no fixed idea as to what it ought to be, 
but people in Europe know what an Imperial family is. Com- 
parisons will be made, to which there will be a ridiculous side. 
The members of the new family, uncertain of their part, will never 
know exactly how to behave, and will display either the awkward- 
ness or the childish vanity oi parvcfius. But on the other hypothe- 
sis, on the contrary, everything can be most easily arranged. The 
power is as great, the advantages of heredity will exist, and Time 
will bestow pn the title of Consul 0/ Frafice that touch of grandeur, 
that magic dignity that it has given to the names borne at the 
present day by the heads of other European States." 

I did not go farther than this ; and my opinion was neither 
adopted nor contravened. But when I found myself alone 
with Girardin, after the conference, I could not forbear from 
expressing the painful thoughts to which it had given rise. 
" This, then," I said, in the bitterness of my heart, " this is the 
outcome of that Revolution which was commenced by an almost 
universal outburst of patriotism and love of liberty ! Is all the 
blood that was shed on the battle-field and spilt on the scaffold — 
are all the ruined lives, all the sacrifice of what is dearest to man- 
kind — to end only in»a change of masters, only in the substitution 
of a family, altogether unknown ten years ago, and barely French 
at the beginning of the French Revolution, for a familv'that had 



THE author's comments. 323 

reigned over France for eight centuries ? Is our condition so 
wretched that we have no safety save in despotism ; that in order 
to escape the evils that threaten us, we must concede everything to 
the Bonapartes, asking nothing from them in return ; that we 
must raise them to the greatest throne in Europe, and give them 
the sovereignty over one of the first nations in the world as an in- 
heritance, without venturing to impose the smallest condition on 
them, without binding them by any engagement, without setting 
up any new institution in place of those which have sometimes 
served as barriers to the caprices of our former masters ? For it is 
not in a debased Senate, in a removable and ill-constituted Council 
of State, in a dumb Legislative Body, in a timorous Tribunate, 
begging for place, in a despised Magistrature, that a counter- 
balance against the immense powers confided to one man will be 
found. And yet we must take this step, however painful it may 
be, for fear of falling to-morrow into the hands of still worse ene- 
mies ! Dreadful alternative !" 

But it was useless to discuss the question, we felt ourselves 
coerced by necessity, and could only mutually encourage each 
other to submit to it. Not that we felt any certainty that this last 
concession on the part of France, however complete it might be, 
would procure entire security. We were far from flattering our- 
selves that the remedy was infallible, we foresaw only too clearly 
the still remaining chances of foreign war, provoked by a never- 
resting ambition, and even of civil discord, if our troops encoun- 
tered reverses. But the remedy, although insufficient to guarantee 
the future, at least deferred the danger for a time, and the French 
at that period had neither the spirit to propose anything better, nor 
the energy to execute it, had they even ventured to think of op- 
position. 

Meanwhile, events were hastening on. The First Consul, hav- 
ing resolved to carry out at once the designs he had so long enter- 
tained, occupied himself exclusively with their realization. The 
Senate, by the bold step it had just taken, had, as it were, opened 
the ball. But its lack of independence was too well known for 
Bonaparte to consent to receive the supreme power from its hands 
alone. It was his desire to receive that from the Revolutionary 
Party, and thus to hold the Sovereignty as it were from the hands 
of those who, twelve years before, had overthrown royalty in 
France. " I always intended," he said to his brother Joseph,* 
* ' to end the Revolution by the establishment of Heredity ; but I 
thought that such a step could not be taken before the lapse of five 

* This conversation between the brothers took place on the 12th Ger- 
minal (April 2). 



324 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



or six years. I see now, however, by the representations made to 
me, by the eagerness of all those about me to carry this point, 
that IWas mistaken, and that the thing is possible earlier than I 
had thought. Nevertheless, before deciding, I want to be sure 
that it is really desired, especially by those who took a great part in 
the Revolution. I want to know the opinion of the Patriots, and 
even of the Terrorists, and I will risk nothing until I am sure of 
their approbation. It is for this reason that I mean to ask for the 
opinion of the Council of State, not in order to have that of persons 
attached to my family, nor of men who for the last four years have 
formally expressed their wish for some sort of sovereignty, as the 
only means of consolidating my Government, but to obtain the 
opinion of the members on whom I cannot count so securely, and 
who, during the Revolution, exhibited sentiments of a totally op- 
posite nature, such as Treilhard, Berlier, Lacuee, Real, etc. The 
request must be made and supported by men of that class. ' ' 

After this, Bonaparte entered with his brother into certain details 
of the execution of the scheme. Joseph perceived that while 
adopting, at least outwardly, the system of Heredity, the First 
Consul was far from admitting it pure and simple, and that he in- 
tended to introduce great modifications. At first he proposed to 
exclude his brother Lucien from the succession on account of his 
marriage ; but on Joseph's declaring that in that case he would 
refuse to stand in the order of succession, he contented himself 
with the exclusion of the children of marriages not approved by the 
Head of the State. Some difficulties likewise arose respecting the 
Regency, in case of a minority, and Joseph Bonaparte, on inform- 
ing me of the result of the interview, requested me to draw up a 
basis for that Institution in the form of articles. I did so, but it 
was labour thrown away : the ideas that the First Consul had con- 
fided to his brother, were far from expressing all his mind on the 
subject. 

In a second interview, two days later, on the 14th Germinal, 
Joseph Bonaparte thought he perceived that the First Consul wished 
to revert to his first plan, viz., to declare himself Emperor, at the 
same time to adopt as his successor the son of Louis Bonaparte and 
Hortense Beauharnais, and to appoint Joseph Bonaparte guardian 
ot the child in the event of a minority, and co-regent with the two 
other Consuls. This arrangement had been suggested by Madame 
Bonaparte, who discerned the fiat of her divorce in the adoption 
of a regular system of hereditary succession, and was ardently 
desired by all the Palace Party. As it fell in with the secret incli- 
nations of the First Consul, Uiere were great hopes that it would 
be carried out. 

In the state of uncertainty into which this recurrence to ideas 



HEREDITY. 325 



that he had believed were given up, threw Joseph Bonaparte, he 
begged me not to speak in favour of Heredity, as had been agreed 
between us, at the Council of State, in which the reply to be given 
to the First Consul, who had requested the general opinion of the 
Council on the subject, was to be discussed. 

We met on the 15th Germinal. Defermon opened the proceed- 
ings. He said that the First Consul's desire was to know the true 
and free opinion of the Council ; that he wished personal con- 
sideration for him to be put aside ; and that the Council should 
point out the course of greatest advantage to the nation and most in 
accordance with public opinion ; but he should hold himself quite 
aloof from the discussion. 

After this exordium, Defermon proposed three principal points 
for our deliberation : 

I St. Is Heredity a better means of ensuring stability than an 
elective system ? 

2d. Admitting Heredity to be preferable, is the present a favour- 
able opportunity for proclaiming it ? 

3d. How can the hereditary system be reconciled with the ex- 
isting institutions which must be retained : liberty, equality, the 
forms of a Republic, in short all that exists at the present time as 
the result of the Revolution ? 

The debates in this conference and in those that followed were 
not very animated. We all felt that something was kept back, 
since, among the questions put to us, there was no mention of 
the title to be assumed by the Head of the State, and yet on that 
title would depend the new form of Government, and the final 
decision between the Republic or a Monarchy. 

Defermon had begun by pronouncing himself in favour of 
Heredity. Berlier, on the contrary, though with great modera- 
tion, expressed his repugnance to it. How is it possible to 
combine, he said, two such contradictory ideas as Republicanism 
and Heredity ! Fourcroy spoke in reply, and defended the op- 
posite view, but his arguments were weak. Portalis spoke on the 
question with his habitual abundance of words, and refuted, or at 
least believed himself to have refuted, Berlier. Pelet and Bigot de 
Preameneu supported Portalis. Berlier' s sentiments were shared 
by Boulay (de la Meurthe), Treilhard, Dauchy and Beranger. 
The rest were silent ; but it was evident that, on the whole, the 
majority of the Council was opposed to the sure system, though 
they hesitated to express their opinions. Several members only 
wanted in reality to make sure of the First Consul's views on the 
subject in order to conform to them. 



326 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

While these languid deliberations were proceeding, and public 
opinion was still uncertain, the First Consul endeavoured to ascer- 
tain for himself how far he might go with some chance of suc- 
cess towards the execution of the plan of which 1 have already 
spoken, viz. , the restriction of the Hereditary system to the nomi- 
nation of Louis Bonaparte's son, as his successor. I will now 
give the particulars of the singular steps taken by him, as they 
were communicated by Joseph Bonaparte to Roederer, Girardin, 
and myself. In this narrative, written out by me on the very day 
on which I heard it (the i8th Germinal), the reader will find a 
lively but faithful picture of the feelings by which the principal 
persons interested in the attempt were actuated. 

The following account was given us by Joseph Bonaparte of a 
conversation between himself and his brother Louis on the morn- 
ing of the 1 8th Germinal, 

On the preceding day the First Consul, accompanied by his 
wife, had paid a visit to Louis Bonaparte. He went in state, 
escorted by a cavalry guard of thirty men, with drawn swords. 
Louis was not at home when his brother arrived, and returned 
only just as the latter was taking leave. He was surprised at this 
unusual visit and at the display with which it had been made. 
The First Consul's manner was cold and embarrassed ; but his 
wife, taking Louis aside, gave him to understand, by a series of 
hints, that they had come to acquaint him with an important pro- 
ject, and that he must act like a man under the circumstances. 
She then informed him, first, that a law establishing Heredity had 
been framed ; she then added that when a law was made, it must 
be obeyed, and that it would be even more advantageous to him 
than to others ; that, according to that law, the right of succession 
could be conferred only on those members of the family whose 
age would be, at least, sixteen years less than that of the First 
Consul ; that his (Louis's) son was the only person who fulfilled 
this condition ; it was therefore on him that the inheritance would 
devolve, since she (Madame Bonaparte) could not give an heir to 
her husband ; and that moreover, this arrangement offered a pros- 
pect of sufficient grandeur to the father, to console him for not 
being himself included in the succession. 

Louis, who, in spite of the influence that Napoleon had exer- 
cised over him from childhood, and of the dependence in which 
he had always been kept, was a high-minded man, rejected this 
proposal. It recalled the offensive rumours which had been circu- 
lated concerning Hortense Beauharnais before their marriage, and 
although by comparing the date of that marriage with the date of 
the birth of his son, he must have been convinced that those 
rumours were groundless, he felt that the adoption of the child by 



LOUIS BONAPARTE'S CONDUCT. 327 

the First Consul would revive- them all. He had therefore previ- 
ously refused to listen to the suggestions of his wife's mother, 
and declared to his brother Joseph that he would never consent to 
the proposal But, he now added, was his consent necessary ? 
The law might be passed, under colour of the general interest. 
Force was there, to be used for carrying out that law, and even for 
snatching his son from him, that the child might be brought up 
in the palace. Madame Bonaparte had already hinted that such 
an arrangement would be necessary with regard to an heir-pre- 
sumptive. Louis, losing all self-restraint, in a transport of anger, 
gave way to violent fury against his mother-in-law, and brought 
charges against her which the most inveterate enmity would hardly 
venture even to utter. 

Joseph Bonaparte, when describing to us the vexation and anger 
of Louis, did not attempt to disguise his own indignation at 
the First Consul's project. He discerned in it the ruin of his 
own future. No inheritance, no more power for himself or his 
children ! By this most perfidious scheme he was disappointed 
in all his hopes, excluded from the business of Government, and 
beyond this, he was deprived of rights which would have been 
conferred upon him by the good-will felt for him in the Senate. 
That body would certainly have appointed him to succeed to his 
brother, if the choice of a successor had been left -to the natural 
course of events. As he spoke, his anger increased, and presently 
becoming passionately excited, he gave vent to his feelings in ex- 
tremely violent language. He cursed the ambition of the First 
Consul and wished for his death as a blessing to his family and to 
France, and notwithstanding all our endeavours to soothe him, 
he left us, still in a state of intense irritation, and went to the 
house of his brother Lucien. '* 

We, the recipients of these details, were deeply pained by all 
we had heard. We could not disguise from ourselves that we 
were being driven towards a precipice. The reflections which we 
interchanged were sombre indeed and full of the presentiment of 
future misfortunes. In all these projects we saw plainly that 
France counted for nothing. There was no question of security 
or repose for the nation, nor of a political institution ; this was a 
conquest, a prey over which a disunited family were quarrelling. 
Amid intrigues such as these, we no longer discerned the repre- 
sentatives of a great nation offering to a great man perpetuity of 
power as a reward for his services or as a security against the 
troubles that would be caused by his death ; the reality that met 

* Lucien, who had left Paris in December, 1803, did not set out for 
Italy until April, 1804, a few days after the conversation reported above. 



328 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

our view was a group of women and venal schemers taking a child 
from the arms of his nurses to place him on a throne. 

The absolute refusal of Louis Bonaparte to consent to the 
arrangement proposed by his wife's mother, the dissensions that 
arose in consequence of that extraordinary proposition, the disap- 
probation of all those in the family or the immediate circle of the 
First Consul who were not entirely devoted to Madame Bonaparte, 
obliged Bonaparte to modify his plan. He did not absolutely 
renounce it, yet he dared not encounter the universal discontent 
to which its execution would have given rise. 

He therefore recurred to simpler ideas, and became reconciled 
to his two brothers Joseph and Louis, whom he resolved to place 
in the line of succession, thus acceding, at least outwardly, to the 
wishes of the Senate. ' Yet he reserved to himself the power of 
reverting to the son of Louis, by means of adoption, a new com- 
bination introduced by him into the Senatus-Consultum, which 
constituted the Imperial system.* With this intention, he ap- 
pointed Louis General of Division and Councillor of State, so as 
to render him conspicuous both in Civil and Military rank. At 
the same time he gave Joseph to understand, that in the existing 
state of things, it would be impossible to place a man entirely un- 
connected with the army in the line of succession, that the Generals 
would scorn to obey one who had not shared their dangers and 
their glory. By this powerful argument he induced his brother to 
accept the command of the Fourth Regiment of the Line, until he 
could appoint him to be Colonel General of the Swiss Guard, f 
an honour which he had already offered him six months previously, 
so as to elevate him to the level of the last king's brothers, one of 
whom, afterwards Charles X. , had held that post. Joseph had re- 
fused it at the time ; but in the position of affairs in which he 
now found himself, the desire of removing any obstacle to his ad- 
mission into the line of succession, and, as he said, the hope of 
taking the First Consul in his own net, if his proposal were not 
sincere, induced him to accept it. Braving, therefore, the ridicule 
that attaches to a man who at the age of six and thirty enters the 
profession of arms for the first time, he set out at the beginning of 
Floreal to take the command of his regiment. 

His departure, and the silence of Louis, which the First Consul 

* This child, the object of so much solicitude, and destined by the 
affection of the First Consul to a most brilliant future, died young, and 
his death left the emperor no resource but that of divorce, in order to 
obtain a direct heir. * 

f In consequence of a capitulation concluded the preceding year with 
the Swiss Cantons, several Swiss regiments had entered the service of 
France. 



fouche's adroitness. 329 

had purchased by the honours he had newly conferred on him, left 
Bonaparte more iree in his movements, and gave him greater lib- 
erty to ripen and carry out his plans. The Council of State, con- 
sulted by him, had not been able to come to an agreement on the 
advice which they should offer, and the First Consul asked each 
member separately for his private opinion on the three questions 
that had been submitted to them. The majority, in which I in- 
clude myself, were for the adoption of the hereditary system, leav- 
ing to the Government the power of deciding whether the present 
moment was opportune for the establishment of the new order of 
things. All kept silence respecting the title to be assumed by the 
Chief of the State, since that question had not been submitted to 
them. 

The First Consul having collected and examined these individual 
opinions, and being satisfied with them, summoned a privy council 
on the 3d Floreal (April 23d), consisting of the two Consuls, the 
Ministers of Marine and of Foreign Affairs (Decres and Talley- 
rand), the Chief Judge (Regnier), the Senators Lecouteulx de 
Cantaleu, Fouche, Roederer and Frangois de Neufchateau ; the 
Councillors of State Portalis, Regnault de St. Jean-d'Angely, 
Segur, Boulay (de la Meurthe) and Treilhard, and lastly of Fon- 
tanes. President of the Legislative Body. 

At that Council, which was held at St. Cloud, the question of 
Heredity was debated first, and adopted without difficulty. Next, 
it was decreed that the First Consul should bear the name of Em- 
peror, that he should be given the title of Majesty, and the mem- 
bers of his family that of Highness, and that the Emperor should 
be consecrated and crowned. Fontanes proposed that the sword 
of Charlemagne should be brought for the occasion from Aix-la- 
Chapelle, and the ceremony was appointed to take place on the 
14th of July.* The subject of the Regency was also discussed. 
The First Consul wished the reigning Emperor to have the right 
to confer the Regency on any member of the family whom he 
might select, and it was in vain to point out to him the advantages 
of an Hereditary system of Regency such as had been framed by 
the Constituent Assembly in the Constitution of 1791 ; he persisted 
in his opinion. He likewise proposed to associate the two Con- 
suls in the Regency, and expressed a desire that they should retain 
the titles they were then bearing. He even proposed to confer it 
on the heir presumptive, and to grant to the Consuls precedence 
over the other members of the family. But this apparent generosity 
was not accepted. Fouche rejected it resolutely, and spoke 

* That date, recalling events so little in harmony with the new Impe- 
rial ideas, was soon afterwards altered. 



330 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Strongly of the inutility of the functions and the inconsistency of 
the title of Consul under the new system. And, as he was prob- 
ably in the secret of the First Consul's real wishes, he caused this 
proposition to be rejected, thus sparing him in the eyes of his col- 
leagues the ungrateful task of removing thepx to a rank lower than 
that which they had hitherto held. 

After this the discussion turned on the institutions that it would 
be desirable to found, in order to consolidate the hereditar}- sys- 
tem, and Roederer was of opinion that vwa voce deliberation on 
the laws should be restored to the Legislative Body, and that the 
Senate should be constituted into an Upper Chamber, which should 
sanction the acts of the Legislative Body, with which the Tribunate 
would be associated. He proposed, in addition, that the Senate 
should retain the riglit of electing the Members of the Legislative 
Body. 

Regnault, while agreeing with Roederer as to the first part of 
his discourse, differed from him on the last, and pointed out, with 
justice, that the Senate could not retain the right of electing dep- 
uties for the departments, if the acts of the latter were to be sub- 
ject to the Senate's approval. He contended that their election 
should be entirely independent, and committed to a body of 
Electors taken from among the nation. He insisted, besides, on 
the necessity of various other guarantees equally liberal in tend- 
ency, such as the formation of a National Jury, consisting of mem- 
bers of the Senate and of the Court of Appeal, for the trial of 
crimes against the State. Lastly, he urged an improved organiza- 
tion of the Council of State, in order that appeals from Ministerial 
Acts might be carried thither directly. 

Fontanes delivered his opinion in short sentences. He said that 
there mu^t be monarchy in the Chief of the State, aristocracy in 
the Senate, and democracy in the Legislative Body. He dilated 
somewhat on this theory, reverted to the sword of Charlemagne, 
and even alluded to Charles the Fifth's crown, proposing to send 
to Brussels for it. 

Cambaceres, deeply offended by Fouche's remarks on the in- 
utility of the functions of the two Consuls, strongly expressed his 
indignation. 

The other members of the Council scarcely spoke at all. Bona- 
parte, without expressing himself decidedly, seemed to approve, 
on the whole, of the suggestions that had been made,* but he an- 
nounced at the same time that the principle of Heredity being con- 

* It must be noted, however, that all the propositions made by Roe- 
derer and Regnault with regard to the Constitutional framing of laws, 
were rejected by the definitive Senatus-Coiisultum. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE SCHEME. 33 1 

ceded, he wished to be left at hberty to regulate all that related to 
his own family ;_^that he only understood them, and could judge 
what steps it would be well to take, and lastly, that he himself 
needed guarantees. " Moreover," added he, " I admit the neces- 
sity of haste, if the affair is to be concluded by the Civil Power, for 
the army, I know, is ready to proclaim me Emperor ; I have 
already received petitions signed by more than thirty thousand sol- 
diers, and it is for that reason that I do not now join the army/'* 

The principal points of the drama having been prepared in this 
Privy Council, and our ears at last accustomed to the word 
Heredity and the title of Emperor, which had at first sounded so 
discordant, it remained only to put the piece on the stage and 
begin the performance. On the 6th Floreal (April 26), therefore, 
the First Consul sent a message to the Senate in reply to the ad- 
dress which that body had presented on the 7th Germinal. The 
object of the message w^as to induce the Senate to pronounce de- 
cisively upon the nature of the institutions which had been declared 
necessary by the Address, and in this way to elicit a more precise 
statement. On receiving the message, the Senate hastened to 
appoint a committee with instructions to draw up a report on the 
subject. The names of the members composing it were submitted 
to the First Consul and approved by him. It consisted of Senators 
Lacepede, Frangois de Neufchateau, Roederer, Fouche, Laplace, 
Vernier, Lecouteulx, Vaubois, and Boissy d'Anglas. 

The reply had been foreseen. But it was not enough that the 
Senate should declare itself, f This interchange of messages and 
addresses had too much the appearance of a preconcerted arrange- 
ment to please the First Consul. As he had already informed his 
brother, it was necessary, in addition, that the empire and the 
crown should be offered to him by a body which was believed by 
the nation to be more independent than the Senate, and that the 
offer should be proposed and seconded by the members of that 
body, who, during the Revolution, had been the most noted for 
their democratic opinions, so that those very men who had founded 
the Republic, should now be its destroyers. Among the number 
there must also be a man well known as the active partisan and 
agent of the Bourbons, and even to have suffered in their cause — 

* These words were evidently uttered rather as a stimulant than in the 
interests of truth. I went to Boulogne shortly afterwards, and then had 
opportunities of ascertaining that the project of proclaiming Bonaparte 
Emperor had never entered the heads of the soldiers. 

f The First Consul had also asked for the private opinion of the Sena- 
tors as well as of the Councillors of State, and had obtained similar an- 
swers. That of General Davoust was remarkable ; it contained a dia- 
tribe against divorce, and a panegyric of Madame Bonaparte. 



332 MEMOIRS or COUNT MIOT D^ MELITO. 

*- — — — , 

that very man must now proclaim their disgrace from the steps ol 
the Tribune and declare them for ever unworthy to reasccnd the 
tlirone of their ancestors. 

Bonaparte obtained all these things by promising three or four 
places in the Senate or the Council of State, * and by holding out a 
prospect of prefectures to about a score' of ambitious tribunes. 
Curee, a former member of the Convention, was then chosen to 
propose the matter at the Tribunate, f and Simeon, who had been 
deported after the i8th Fructidor, as an adherent of the Bourbons, 
undertook to second him. 

The draft was made on Monday, the 3d Floreal (April 23), and 
was to be read a week later ; but the First Consul wished to see it 
first, and it was taken to him at St. Cloud by Fabre (de I'Aude), 
the President of the Tribunate. The manner in which it had been 
drawn up did not meet wuth Bonaparte's approval, and Fabre, in- 
stead of discussing the point, said to him : *' Well, then, draw it 
up yourself. Curee will read it, just as you like to put it." And 
he left the document on the table. On the following day, Fabre 
received a note from Maret, asking him to come to St. Cloud. 
He accordingly went, and received the draft from Maret' s hands 
ready drawn up in the form in which it was to be read. On his 
return home, he read it through, and perceived that it ended with 
these words : 

* ' I propose that the Tribunate should express their desire : 

" I St. That Napoleon Bonaparte, at the present time First Con- 
sul, be declared Emperor, and as such that he retain the Govern- 
ment of the French Republic ; 

" 2d. That the Imperial dignity be declared hereditary for his 
descendants. ' ' 

* Shortly afterwards the tribunes, Curee and Fabre (de I'Aude), were 
created senators, and Simeon, also a Tribune, entered the Council of State. 

f To these motives must be added a special one, which caused the 
First Consul to insist on Curee's proposing the motion at the Tribunate. 
Cur6e, who had been until then of little note, had always believed that 
Bonaparte was working for the Bourbons, and that his real intention 
was to act, sooner or later, the part of Monk. After the death of the 
Due d'Enghien, he came to the Tribunate, and while the majority of the 
tribunes were deploring that tragical event, he drew near to some of his 
colleagues and rubbing his hands exclaimed, " I am delighted ; Bona- 
parte now belongs to the Convention." This reached the ears of the 
First Consul, who naturally had spies of his own in the Tribunate, and 
who wisely judged that the man who had so stoutly declared himself 
against the Bourbons, was the most fit to raise him (Bonaparte) to the 
empire. An emperor from the ranks of the convention would, of course, 
in Curve's estimation, be the strongest guarantee against the return of 
the ancient dynasty, which was what he most feared. 



1 



AN IMPORTANT ALTERATION. 333 

He perceived, therefore, that the word descendants had been sub- 
stituted for that oL family which had appeared in the original mo- 
tion drawn up by Curee. This alteration struck the President of 
the Tribunate, and he hastened to call the attention of Maret to it. 
Maret assumed an air of surprise, and then affected to consider 
the use of either formula as a matter of indifference. It was, 
nevertheless, agreed upon between them that the alteration should 
be pointed out to the First Consul, and that if he consented to the 
substitution of the v^ordi /amily for that of descendants, the draft 
should be sent back in the course of the day (9th Floreal) with 
that change. Fabre waited in vain the whole of that day, and it 
was late at night before the document was returned to him, but 
without alteration, or any sign that his remarks had received atten- 
tion. He understood from this that it was desired that the word 
/amily sYioxAdi not be used, and as he foresaw all the consequences 
of such a determination, and that moreover he was disposed in 
favour of the First Consul's brothers, and, in particular, of Joseph, 
to whom he was friendly, he acted on his own responsibility, 
erased the word descendants, restored the v^oxd/amily, and returned 
the draft in that form to Curee, who, being unacquainted with 
what had taken place on the subject, did not hesitate to read it 
aloud just as he had received it. 

But this incident, which became known, aroused alarm in the 
family. Bernadotte called on me on the morning of the loth, 
and expressed the greatest uneasiness. True it was, that if the 
word descendants had been retained in the motion of the Tribunate, 
the First Consul might have drawn a powerful argument from it in 
favour of his favourite project, and could have made use of that 
expression to limit the right of succession to his descendants, 
either natural or adopted. But Fabre' s resolution caused the 
attempt to fail, and as I was informed of it early in the day by one 
of my former colleagues in the Tribunate, to whom it had been 
confided by Fabre, I was enabled to allay the fears of Bernadotte. 

The motion was made in the Tribunate on the loth Floreal 
(April ^o) as had been arranged beforehand : it was seconded by 
Simeon and by a considerable number of the other Tribunes. 
Carnot only spoke against the scheme, and Gallois, in a speech 
of few but weighty words, insisted on the maintenance of the re- 
sults of the Revolution, and demanded institutions favourable to 
liberty and equality. The motion was adopted on the report of 
Jard-Panvilliers, and signed by more than fifty Tribunes, among 
whom, strange to say, was the brother of Moreau, then under 
trial. The name of Carnot is not among the signatures. * 

* Nor do we find the name of my friend, Stanislas Girardin. He was 



334 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The motion of the Tribunate was carried before the Senate, who 
received it with approval, and rephed on the 14th Floreal (May 
4th) to the message it had received from the First Consul on the 
6th of the same month, by expressing, like the Tribunate, a formal 
desire that the Imperial dignity should be conferred on the First 
Consul and made hereditary in his family. Lastly, although the 
Legislative Body was not sitting at the time, the President gath- 
ered together the members then present in Paris in the Salle de la 
Questure, and this incomplete assembly expressed a desire similar 
to that of the Senate and the Tribunate. Fontanes fonvarded it 
to the First Consul with an address no less emphatic than his own 
speeches. 

After these solemn proceedings nothing remained but to make 
the expressed wishes of the Senate and Tribunate into a law, and 
give them their necessary development. For that purpose an 
extraordinary meeting of the Council of State was convened at St. 
Cloud on the 21st and 2 2d Floreal (IVIay 11 and 12) and the 
project of the Senatus-Consultum laid before it. As that project 
was scarcely altered, except in the wording of a few phrases, for 
the sake of greater clearness, and as no discussion took place on 
the principles involved in the new doctrines, I refer my readers to 
the Senatus-Consultum itself which appeared in the ' JNIoniteur' of 
the 30th Floreal, year XIL I will only mention that the reading 
of that act was listened to in profound silence, and that although 
all present assumed an appearance of satisfaction, surprise rather 
than joy was expressed on every countenance, especially when the 
Article of Heredity, the exclusion of Lucien and Jerome Bona- 
parte was announced and the power of adopting an heir was con- 
ceded for this time only to the Emperor. The First Consul in 
vain urged the members who were in the habit of speaking most 
frequently to speak now. There was a general silence, and no 
important debate ensued. The Councillors of State expected to 
be appointed for life, but that favour for which they had been led 
to hope, was restricted, if not revoked, by a condition in the 
Senatus-Consultum that to receive a life nomination members 
must have ser\'ed five years in the ordinary way. As the Emperor 
reser\'ed to himself the right of regulating every half year the ordi- 
nary and extraordinary service of the Council, and of appointing 
members at his choice to one or the other, and as not one of the 
Councillors fulfilled the prescribed condition, they all, as a natural 
consequence, considered themselves ill-used and were dissatisfied. 

% 

then at the Boulogne camp, whither he had accompanied Joseph Bona- 
parte, and out of regard for him, had resumed military service. The First 
Consul had appointed him captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Line. 



A PRIVY COUNCIL. 335 

Yet they only protested feebly against this arrangement, and the 
First Consul paid no attention to their timid objections. Finally, 
after two sittings, the Senatus-Consultum was definitively decreed 
on the 2 2d Floreal. 

On the following day, the First Consul summoned another 
Privy Council, composed of the two Consuls, the Chief Judge, the 
Minister of Finance (Gaudin), the Minister of the Treasury 
(Mollieu), the Minister of War (Berthier), Senators Lacepede, 
Frangois de Neufchateau, Fargues, Vimar and Lefebvre, and 
Councillors of State Portalis, Treilhard, Lacuee and Defermou, 
The Senatus-Consultum was read and adopted by that Council, 
without alteration, just as it was supposed to have been framed 
in the Council of State. The next day, the 26th Floreal, it was 
carried by three State Councillors to the Senate, who referred it to 
a Committee, and again assembled on the 28th, under the presi- 
dency of Cambaceres. Senator Lacepede, on being ordered to 
report on it on behalf of the Committee, moved its adoption, and, 
no dissentient voice having been raised, it was at once put to the 
vote. The Senatus-Consultum was accepted, with the exception 
of three votes, * and the Senate decreed that they would proceed 
to St. Cloud in a body, to carry it to the new Emperor. 

The Council of State, the Generals of the Guard, and the 
officers of the Household had received their instructions, and were 
in readiness at St. Cloud by noon. Every window was occupied ; 
great agitation prevailed ; and all seemed waiting with impatience 
for the decision of the Senate. At length the sound of cannon an- 
nounced the moment when the Senatus-Consultum had been made 
Law, It was nearly three o' clock. Shortly aftersvards we beheld the 
arrival of the Ministers, who were vying with each other in speed. 
Berthier and Talleyrand were the first to reach St. Cloud, and to 
enter Bonaparte's presence. The others arrived in quick succes- 
sion. The Councillors of State and the Generals of the Guard 
were assembled in the Great Cabinet. Towards five o'clock, the 
Senate came in sight. They were escorted by a regiment of 
Cuirassiers, and preceded by mounted officers of the Divisional 
Staff. Cambaceres and Lebrun occupied the same carriage, they 
had no special guard of honour, and were undistinguished from 
the rest of the Senate. 

When the Senators had arrived, Bonaparte entered the Grand 
Cabinet and placed himself in the centre of a circle composed of 
the Councillors of State and the Generals ; behind him stood the 
Ministers, among whom Consul Lebrun took his place. 

* Those three negative votes were supposed at the time to be given 
by Gr^goire (Bishop of Blois), Garat and Lanjuinais 



336 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Cambaceres, at the Head of the Senate, pronounced a discourse 
in which the words Sire and Imperial Majesty were several times 
repeated. His speech concluded with these words : " The Senate 
prodaijns Napoleon Bonaparte at the present mojuent Emperor of the 
French." A cry of Vive I Empereiir ! arose in the Assembly and 
some applause, but it was neither loud nor hearty. 

The Emperor replied in a firm and clear voice. He appeared 
the least embarrassed of any. Among those present, there was 
evident awkwardness, which he alone did not share. After his 
reply, addressed to all present in general, he went up to Cam- 
baceres, to whom he spoke, as it seemed to me, with much 
affection ; but I could not hear what he said. Then he addressed 
a few words to Portalis and several other Councillors of State in 
succession. Some answered according to the new etiquette, using 
the words ** Sire" and " Majesty," and Portalis was one of these. 
Others became confused between the old and the new formulas, 
beginning their phrases with "Citizen First Consul" and then 
stumbling over those they had forgotten, and ending with " Sire" 
and " Majesty." The whole ceremony did not last half an hour. 
The Emperor brought it to a close by withdrawing into his private 
room. On leaving the Grand Cabinet, the Senate proceeded in a 
body to visit the Empress, to whom Cambaceres made a speech. 
The State Council did the same, and Bigot de Preameneu, Presi- 
dent of the Committee on Legislation, was spokesman. The 
Empress replied with evident emotion, and in a trembling voice 
thanked us with a few kind but almost inarticulate words ; we 
then withdrew and got into our carriages to return to Paris. It 
was nearly six o'clock. 

The roads were crowded as we drove along. The firing of can- 
non and the extraordinary concourse of carriages had attracted 
many sightseers. But in the evening there were neither fetes nor 
illuminations. The people were either ignorant of what had taken 
place, or they took no interest in the event. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Creation of the great Dignitaries of the Empire — the denomination of 
Citizen is abolished and the title of Monsieur restored — Failure of a 
tragedy by Carrion-Nisas at the Theatre Francais — New oath taken by 
members of the great authorities of the State — New seal of State — 
Trial of Georges Cadoudal, Pichegru, and their accomplices — Suicide 
of Pichegru — Verdict — Moreau is condemned to two years' imprison- 
ment — Clemency of the Emperor — Eagerness of the numerous place 
hunters, and seekers after favour at the Imperial Court — Negotiations in 
Rome to induce the Pope to come to Paris and consecrate the Emperor 
— Dissensions in the Council of State respecting the date and cere- 
monies of the coronation — Debate on the framing of the Criminal Code 
— Attempt of the Government to abolish trial by jury— The author vis- 
its Prince Joseph at Boulogne — Simplicity of the habits of the latter ; 
his affected disdain of the high rank to which he is raised by the ele- 
vation of his brother Napoleon — The army at Boulogne — Preparations 
for the descent on England — The author, summoned to St, Cloud, is 
appointed by the Emperor to undertake the High Police of the North- 
ern Departments of France — His conversation with Napoleon on the 
subject of Prince Joseph. 

On the 29th Floreal, the new appointments of Arch-chancellor 
and Arch-treasurer became known. The ' Moniteur' regulated 
the etiquette ; the great dignitaries of the Empire were to be 3Iy 
Lord and Sei'ene Highness ; the Ministers were once more Excel- 
lencies ; lastly, the denomination of Citizen was abolished, and the 
use of the word Monsieur was revived, after having been banished 
from conversation and written communication for twelve years. 

Public opinion, however, seemed at first little in favour of these 
^innovations, and the very persons who in the beginning had been 
most adverse to the name of Citizen now thought it wrong to give 
4he title of Monsieur to revolutionists and low republicans, and 
affected the use of the word Citizen in addressing persons whom 
they presumed to belong to those classes. On the other hand, the 
wit of the Parisians exercised itself on the new dignities and the 
new great people. Epigrams and clever sayings abounded in all 
directions, and were eagerly circulated.* The first performance 

* The following are some of the epigrams then in circulation. 

" L'indi visible citoyenne (la Republique) 
Qui ne devait jamais perir, 



338 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of a tragedy by Carrion-Nisas, at that time a member of the Trib- 
unate, took place on the day following that of the proclamation 
of the Emperor, and afforded a good opportunity of judging of 
the public feeling. The play, though not deficient in merit, was 
received with the utmost disfavour, and it was clear that the 
author was to be punished for the political opinions recently ex- 
pressed in the Tribune by Carrion-Nisas on the establishment of 
the Imperial system. Apart from this, it was a blunder to have 
risked the piece under the then existing circumstances. The sub- 
ject was taken from the History of Peter the Great, and included 
coronations, thrones and empires ; the constant allusions to which 
the tragedy gave rise were received with extreme disapprobation. 
The effect produced by the piece was understood too late, and it 
was not again acted. 

But no signs of disfavour, no ineffectual murmurs of the crowd, 
arrested the Emperor's proceedings. He pursued his course with 
his accustomed firmness, and everything fell quietly into its place 
under the new laws which now regulated France. While waiting 
for the nation to express its opinion on the question of Heredity 
— for according to the Senatus-Consultum of 28th Floreal it was 
to be referred to the nation — things went on as if it had already 
consented.* On the 2d Prairial (May 22), the Tribunate came 
in a body to an audience of the Emperor. The Tribunals and the 
Magistracy presented themselves likewise ; a new oath was im- 
posed, and all the great authorities took it individually. The same 
ceremony was gone through by the Council of State on the 2d 
Prairial. 

The councillors were presented one after the other by the Arch- 
chancellor of the Empire, Cambaceres. The Emperor was seated 
in an armchair by a round table ; on his right was his brother, 
Prince Louis, and on his left, the Arch-treasurer, Lebrun. 
Maret, Secretary of State, registered the oaths in the order in which 

N'a pu supporter sans mourir 
L'operation c6sarienne. " 

" Grands parents de la R6publique, 
Grands raisonneurs en politique, 
Dont je partage la douleur 1 
Venez assister en famille 
Au grand convoi de voire fille 
Morte en couche d'un empereur. " 

" C'est une belle pi^ce ; mais il y a vingi scenes (Vincennes) de trop." 
" Le sciiat, aprcs sa s6ance, est venu a Saint Cloud ventre a ierre.'' 

* The results of the scrutiny of the registers in the Departments were 
not published until the i8ih Frimaire, year XIII. (December i, 1S04), 
the eve of the coronation of the Emperor. 



THE IMPERIAL EAGLE. 339 

they were taken. When the ceremony was over, the Emperor 
presided at a Council of State in which it was decreed that a cer- 
tain number of prisoners, chosen from among soldiers and refrac- 
tory conscripts, should be set at liberty in honour of the ^m- 
^Qxor' s joy/ul accession ; an ancient custom hastily revived. Lastly, 
at the same sitting, the Emperor appointed a committee from 
among the councillors for the purpose of determining the cere- 
monial of the coronation and consecration, and to decide on the 
robes that should be worn by those persons who were to take part 
in the function. On the same occasion also the State Seal was 
discussed. It had become necessary to change it, as the former 
symbol of the Republic, a standing female figure, leaning on a 
spear surmounted by a Cap of Liberty, was no longer appropriate. 
The Gallic cock was proposed, likewise a lion or an elephant, 
finally the Emperor suggested an eagle as the emblem most anal- 
ogous with the future destiny of France, and this was adopted. 

I have now reached the close of the special facts that came to 
my knowledge during the course of the long travail that brought 
forth the Empire. All is accomplished ; the new order of things 
is established, and is following its natural course. I shall now 
retrace my steps, and recall various events which I have omitted, 
in order not to interrupt the thread of my narrative during the 
continuance of the debates on the establishment of the Imperial 
system. The preliminaries of the trial in which Moreau or Pich- 
egru were implicated dragged along slowly, and had been marked 
by the tragical death of the latter General, Pichegru, who was 
arrested on the 8th Ventose (Feb. 28) and imprisoned in the tem- 
ple, and was found dead in his prison on the morning of the i6th 
Germinal (April 6). Round his throat was a black neckerchief, 
with which he had strangled himself by means of a piece of stick 
taken from a bundle of firewood. By means of this he had con- 
trived to draw the knot sufficiently tight to destroy life, a mode of 
suicide which at that time seemed most extraordinary. In fact, it 
was difficult to understand how he had retained strength enough 
to continue to hold the stick during the agonies of death. On 
the table beside Pichegru' s bed was an open volume of Seneca, 
which he appeared to have been reading before he committed the 
fatal act. This event created a very unfavourable impression, and 
suspicions fell on the First Consul. But they were entirely un- 
founded. Joseph Bonaparte, who was with his brother when 
Savary brought the news, told me that the First Consul seemed 
greatly troubled, and so expressed himself as to preclude any idea 
of his participation in the crime. Besides, a few moments' reflec- 
tion will convince any one that it was by no means in the interest 
of the government to bring about the death of Pichegru, an event 



340 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



which deprived the prosecution of one of its most essential wit- 
nesses, and of a prisoner whose avowals would have thrown the 
strongest light on the existence and nature of the conspiracy under 
investigation. The suspicions that had been entertained by the 
ill-disposed were soon dispelled, and had only a transitory influ- 
ence on the public mind. Pichegru's body 'was exposed at the 
prison gates, but it was greatly changed, and Savary, who had fre- 
quently seen the General in life, could scarcely recognise his feat- 
ures. 

After a long instruction, which lasted nearly three months, the 
act of accusation against Moreau and the numerous accomplices 
of Georges Cadoudal and Pichegru appeared on the 28th Floreal 
(■May 15), and the extraordinary tribunal* commenced the hearing 
of the accused. Great crowds were present each day, and public 
opinion was openly in favour of Moreau. Several circumstances 
excited quite opposite feelings to those that the Government 
would have wished to prevail. Picot, one of the chief prisoners, 
retracted publicly all the avowals he had signed, and declared first 
that he had been induced to make them, by an offer of five hun- 
dred louis, and then that on his refusal, torture had been inflicted. 
This had forced him to assent to everything that was asked of 
him. He accused Bertrand, a police officer, of this barbarous 
treatment of him, and exhibited his hands, still bruised and wound- 
ed by the violent usage they had received. But Moreau attracted 
the greatest interest. The act of accusation had convinced no one 
of his guilt ; the evidence appeared to be forced to a conclusion, 
and to be incoherent in several parts, and Moreau was repeatedly 
applauded for his replies, which were made with dignity. He re- 
called his victories, and gave his word of honour in support of 
various denials made by him. " My word," he said, " that 
Europe has long been accustomed to respect." 

Nevertheless, the public feeling thus displayed in favour of 
Moreau and of the other prisoners was by no means the result of 
a moral conviction of their innocence. The plot, the intended 
assassination, the treasonable acts, the contemplated crimes, were 
in fact too evident to allow of any doubt of their existence. But 
the trial began on the very same day that bestowed an Imperial 
crown on Bonaparte. The contrast between the fate of the two 
Generals whom France had hitherto looked upon as illustrious 
rivals, between whom the glory of her arms equally divided, and 
of whom one was ascending the throne, while the other was 
advancing towards a scaffold, attracted towards the less fortunate 

* That tribunal took the name of Tribunal criminclet spAial du de'parte- 
nient de la Seine. There was no jury. 



THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY. 34 1 

of the two, the compassion due to misfortune, and there is little 
doubt that had Bonaparte remained First Consul, greater severity, 
or, at least, les"s partiality towards Moreau, would have been dis- 
played. 

After pleadings lasting nearly a month, the verdict, so long 
awaited, was pronounced on the 21st Prairial (June 9) at four a.m. 
Twenty-one of the accused were condemned to death. Moreau 
and some others were sentenced merely to two years' imprison- 
ment, as a penalty incurred under the Correctional Police. The 
other prisoners were acquitted. Among those condemned to death 
were Armand de Polignac and De Riviere. The Empress inter- 
ested herself warmly on behalf of the former, and Madame Murat 
and her husband were not less solicitous on behalf of Riviere. 
Their entreaties were listened to by the Emperor, who was himself 
disposed to clemency, and were crowned with success. Using the 
prerogative secured to him by the Senatus-Consultum that had 
raised him to the throne, the Emperor summoned a Privy Council 
on the 4th Messidor (June 22), in which he granted a pardon, not 
only to Polignac and Riviere, but to eight others who had been 
condemned to death. The remainder, among whom was Georges 
Cadoudal, were executed. As for Moreau, instead of keeping 
him in prison during the two years of his sentence, the Emperor 
gave him permission to proceed to the United States ; and to make 
it easier for him to settle there, purchased from him his house in 
the Rue d'Anjou, Faubourg St. Honore, for a sum of eight hun- 
dred thousand francs (^^32,000), far beyond its real value, and 
presented it to Bernadotte, who made no difficulties about accept- 
ing it. The amount was paid over to Moreau from the Secret 
Police Fund before his departure. 

Such was the end of this great affair. It marred not a little the 
pleasure that his successes in other directions and the great title he 
had just acquired afforded the new Emperor. It was remarked, 
however, and not without appreciation, that his first use of the 
supreme power to which he had just attained was a deed of clem- 
ency and generosity towards his enemies. 

As is, generally the case, and more perhaps in France than else- 
where, the trial of Moreau and all its attendant circumstances were 
soon forgotten. The Emperor himself, although he had acutely 
felt the attitude taken by the people of Paris during the proceed- 
ings, and had in consequence conceived a secret aversion for that 
city, which had even inclined him to contemplate the removal of 
the seat of government, was aware that this would not be an 
opportune moment at which to show his displeasure, and he en- 
deavoured to turn the public mind from the subject. Favours and 
largesses, the usual attendants of a new reign, were abundantly 



342 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

lavished on all those who had had a share in raising the edifice. 
The Council of State and the Senate opened their doors to Trib- 
unes who, to obtain that favour, had promised to use their influ- 
ence and had kept their word. Senatorships were distributed ; a 
new court offered many brilliant posts ; the highest families in 
France endeavoured to obtain them, and once more crowded to 
the antechambers and saloons of the Tuileries and St. Cloud. The 
nomination of members of the Legion of Honour supplied addi- 
tional food for ambition. That distinction, which at first had 
been despised, became greatly coveted, and was most eagerly 
solicited, while addresses of congratulation and adhesion to the 
Imperial system succeeded each other without intermission, and 
once more filled the columns of the patient * Moniteur. ' Amid 
this universal infatuation only a few persons ventured openly to 
evince their disapprobation, and among these, we remark in par- 
ticular Lareveillere, Lepaux and Anquetil-Duperron, members of 
the Institute, who resigned, in order to avoid taking the oath of 
allegiance to the Emperor that was required of their colleagues. 
Nepomucene Lemercier, author of * Agamemnon,' resigned in 
like manner his nomination to the Legion of Honour. 

At the creation of the Empire, the discussions in the Council of 
State turned principally on the programme of the ceremonies of the 
consecration and coronation. The Emperor was particularly tena- 
cious of that vain ceremony. He was deeply persuaded that a re- 
ligious anointing would render his person sacred, and he was most 
anxious to receive the unction from the Sovereign Pontiff, the head 
of that religion which three years before he had re-established in 
France. This was the price of the Concordat, and immediately 
after the Empire was conferred on him, he entered into negotia- 
tions with Rome to bring Pms VII. to Paris in order that he might 
pour the holy oils on his brow. While these negotiations were 
being carried on, either by flattery or promises, and sometimes 
also by threats, the principal points of the ceremonial were settled 
at a sitting of the Council of State, which took place at St. Cloud 
on the 26th Prairial (June 14), and at which I was present It 
was arranged that the ceremony should take place in Paris, and 
the date was fixed for the 27th Thermidor (August 15). Moreover, 
the Champ de Mars was selected for the scene of the ceremony, 
and from that day, it was to be known as the Champ du Gouvernc- 
ment. The solemnity was to be both civil and religious. The 
Pope, who should be invited to Paris, would officiate at Mass, and 
bless the Imperial robes. The Emperor would receive neither 
robes nor crown from the hands of any one whomsoever. He 
was to appear, wearing the crown on his head, the sceptre in his 
hands, only divesting himself of those insignia to have them 



FAREWELL TO THE REPUBLIC. 343 

blessed ; he would then take the oath, and reinvest himself with 
the crown and robes. He was to wear a long purple mantle, em- 
broidered with gold bees and lined with ermine. The dresses of 
the Princes of the Imperial family, of the great dignitaries, of the 
Senate, and of the State Council, were, in like manner, prescribed 
with great magnificence, and mantles of ceremony, of greater or 
less length, were to be worn by those personages. 

The Emperor sanctioned the whole arrangement, making very 
slight objections, though he was far from approving it. The date 
did not coincide with the arrival of the Pope, who had not yet 
signified his consent, and who could not in the space of a month, 
prepare for and accomplish so long a journey. A ceremony in 
the open air recalled in too many ways that of the Federation of 
the 14th of July, 1790, and, by reason of the immense crowd it 
would attract, involved much to which it would be imprudent for 
him to expose himself. But as the Emperor could always manage 
to secure delay, he made no serious objection. The words crown, 
sceptre, throne, all these discordant expressions had been uttered 
by councillors, who, until very lately, had been stern Republicans : 
this was the essential point ; for the moment he desired nothing 
more. But in other sittings which preceded or followed this one, 
more serious questions were discussed, and 1 had an opportunity 
of perceiving that the Emperor would show scant respect to insti- 
tutions that had been respected by the First Consul. I saw clearly 
that, had the Civil Code not been passed some months previously, 
it would have been modified so as to bring it into more harmony 
with the monarchical system, which he was already trying to com- 
plete by the restoration of the nobility, and by unequal shares in 
inherited property, both of which were attained afterwards by an 
organic Senatus-Consultum. But if the recent promulgation of 
the Civil Code made a circuitous method necessary, it was not so 
with the Criminal Code, which was as yet scarcely framed, and 
means were taken to complete it in such fashion as to render it a 
potent weapon in the hands of despotism. Meanwhile, the prog- 
ress made in its compilation depended on the adoption of one or 
two vital principles, which would not perhaps have been questioned 
a few months earlier, but which, under the monarchical system on 
which we had just entered, had become a subject for discussion. I 
shall only narrate one single circumstance bearing on this matter, 
but it is as characteristic as it is remarkable. The Council of State 
was convened for seven a.m. on the i6th Prairial (June 4), four 
days before the verdict in Moreau's trial was given. The sitting 
took place at St. Cloud. The Emperor, who presided, was very 
gloomy. He showed great annoyance at the conduct of the law- 
yers employed for the defence of Moreau, and the other accused, 



344 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and expatiated bitterly on the feeling displayed by the inhabitants 
of Paris in favour of the latter. He found fault with the Tribunal, 
with the forms of procedure, and although that one that was about 
to pass sentence had been changed into a special Tribunal, without 
a jury, he disapproved of the slowness of the proceedings, and of 
the irresolution of the judges. The sitting having been opened in 
this way, Cambaceres, so soon as the Emperor had ceased speak- 
ing, explained the real object of the meeting. " Before entering 
on the debate on the Criminal Code," he said, " it is needful that 
the Council should decide some preliminary questions. Among 
these, the most essential is the following : ' Shall trial by jury be 
relained in criminal proceedings P ' " On hearing these words, our 
surprise was great. Very few of us were in the secret, and the 
majority could not havfe imagined that a question on the subject 
could be raised. But we were soon undeceived. Portalis, who 
was the habitual mouthpiece of the Government, on all questions 
of jurisprudence, whether civil or criminal, began to speak, and in 
a long and prolix discourse, such as he was accustomed to de- 
liver, inveighed forcibly against the institution of juries, reverted 
to the teaching of our ancient jurisprudence, and spoke of the 
necessity of a technical education in order to judge criminal mat- 
ters ; of the security afforded to criminals by juries, who were 
either ignorant or governed by motives of mistaken humanity ; 
above all, of the danger of committing the trial of political crimes 
to that mode of proceeding, and finally of its incompatibility with 
the return to the monarchical system, that France, happily for her- 
self, had just inaugurated. Bigot de Preameneu, another confidant 
of Cambaceres, supported Portalis with arguments of the same 
nature, but with greater moderation. It then became quite evi- 
dent that the whole thing had been concerted with the Govern- 
ment, and that Cambaceres had promised the Emperor that the 
Council of State should decide the question according to the views 
of the two speakers, who, on account of the estimation in which 
they were held for ability and judgment, exercised a great influence 
over their colleagues in deliberations such as these. Opinions, 
therefore, were undecided, when Berlier in a methodical, though 
unprepared discourse, full of force and reasoning, triumphantly 
refuted the sophistry of Portalis and Bigot, and taking up their 
arguments one by one, demolished them by arguments which he 
propounded with as much calmness and dignity as his opponents. 
Portalis, in particular, had shown temper and want of method in 
his attack. Finally, ^t was put to the vote, and the majority of the 
Council were for the retention of trial by jury. At the moment 
that the hands of the Councillors of State were raised to signify 
their votes, Cambaceres put up his eye-glass to count them, and. 



TRIAL BY JURY. 34^ 



when doubt could no longer remain, after a moment of mingled 
hesitation and surprise, he turned towards the Emperor, and 
stretching out his arms as if to say, ' ' I did not expect this, ' ' an- 
nounced to him the result of the votes. 

During the whole debate, which lasted nearly two hours, the 
Emperor had been thoughtful, taking no part in it ; but so soon 
as he heard the result, he closed the sitting abruptly and withdrew. 
His displeasure was undisguised. 

It is to this memorable decision, the details of which were little 
known at the time, that France owes the continuance of trial by 
jury. The Imperial Government having failed to overthrow it 
openly, attacked it on the flank, inflicting many wounds ; but, 
nevertheless, it still exists, and the share taken by the Council of 
State in the preservation of this salutary institution should not be 
forgotten. 

A few days after the sitting of the Council of St. Cloud, of which 
I have just given the particulars, I asked and obtained a three 
weeks' leave to visit Prince Joseph * at Boulogne-sur-Mer. The 
wish that I felt to see him and to hear his opinion on the great 
events that had taken place since his departure from Paris, and my 
equally strong desire to witness with my own eyes the immense 
preparations for the expedition which was keeping all Europe in 
suspense, had determined me to undertake that journey ; I had 
every reason to rejoice that I did so. 

I reached Boulogne on the ist Messidor (June 19). I found 
the Prince established in vast barracks on the left wing of the camp, 
on a height overlooking the sea and the harbour. He was hard at 
work at the new duties imposed on him by the command to which 
he had been appointed ; he frequently inspected his regiment, the 
Fourth Infantry of the Line, one of the finest and most dis- 
tinguished corps in the army, and was beloved by all his officers^ 
whom he treated with extreme kindness. His habits had not been 
altered by his recent elevation ; he was as unaffected and as accessi- 
ble as ever ; the rank to which he had risen, and of which he re- 
fused to receive the honours and the title, f was indicated only by 
the favours and benefits he lavishly bestowed. This amiability of 
character, this philosof>hic moderation which appeared sincere, this 
native goodness, never failed for a single instant during the time I 
stayed with him at Boulogne. I had the pleasure of seeing my 

* Since the promulgation of the Senatus-Consultum of the 28th Floreal, 
Joseph Bonaparte had received that title. In his capacity of Grand Elec- 
tor, he was, in addition, a Grand Dignitary of the Empire, and part of 
the Luxembourg was assigned to him as a residence. 

t He would not allow himself to be addressed by any other title than 
that of Colonel ; even his servants spoke of him by that name only. 



346 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

friend Stanislas Girardin at the camp, attached as a Captain to the 
fourth of the Line, as I have already said he had resumed military- 
service to avoid being separated from the Prince. In the intervals 
of their duties we walked in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, and 
had long talks which were both delightful and instructive to me. 
This confidential interchange of thought enhanced the interest of 
the circumstances in which we were placed. I perceived that Prince 
Joseph was deeply mortified by the Article of Adoption, and that 
he could not forgive it. He expressed himself on that subject with 
extreme bitterness, and frequently in terms most insulting to the 
Empress. The seeds of dissension between the two brothers had 
not been destroyed by the admission of Joseph into the line of 
succession. That concession had failed to reconcile the two. 

I ^vas convinced by all that passed in our numerous interviews, 
that the great changes which had recently taken place in the organ- 
ization of the Government, far from having been brought about by 
the troops, were scarcely known to them, and that their execution 
had created no great sensation. Even Moreau's trial, though it 
had excited some interest, had not produced the profound impres- 
sion I had supposed, artd this confirmed me in the opinion I have 
already expressed, that Moreau's dealings with English agents, and 
partisans of the Bourbons, had lowered him in the estimation of 
his former comrades in arms. Besides this, the French soldiers, 
well treated and kept hard at work, had little time to think about 
any subjects outside the camp. The officers were endowed with a 
greater perspicacity, but they were restrained by the habit of disci- 
pline, and by the hope of rapid promotion, and they continued to 
display an excellent military spirit, although they had received with 
coldness, and even with a certain repugnance, innovations which 
were opposed to the ideas of equality they had hitherto cherished. 
But the name of Bonaparte was still stronger than those ideas, and 
exercised a powerful sway over the imagination of all. There was 
therefore, no doubt, that if the expedition took place, men and 
officers would bring to it all the zeal, devotion and courage which 
might be justly expected from a French army. And truly when 
one contemplated those brilliant troops, proud of so many victo- 
ries ; of that coast bristling with cannon, of those docks built as if 
by magic, and filled with countless vessels ready for sea ; when one 
remembered the shortness of the passage, and the goal, which on a 
calm day, and beneath a serene sky, seemed so very near, the 
coolest heads were seduced into a belief in the possibility of the en- 
terprise. It seemed impossible, whatever might be the naval 
superiority of England, that she could destroy all the vessels which 
would spread over the channel, and prevent the larger number, if 
favoured by fine weather and a well-chosen opportunity from reach- 



THE *' invasion" PROJECT. 347 

ing the opposite coast. But I could not share the confidence in- 
spired by the numerous fleet of gun-boats that were to protect the 
transport vessels. Such frail barks, unable to brave bad weather, 
could not sustain an encounter with English ships, and a few suc- 
cessful engagements which I witnessed, and under favour of which 
the convoys that had sailed from various ports of Picardy and 
Flanders, effected a meeting at Boulogne, did not make me alter 
my opinion. In such encounters as those, our formidable coast 
fought for us, and decided the victory ; but the disasters that befell 
the fleet a month later, under the very eyes of the Emperor, in 
spite of the courage and skill of the crews, was a sufficient proof of 
the inadequacy of our means. Moreover, I always felt sure that 
Napoleon would not make the expedition in person. 

After remaining a fortnight at the Boulogne camp, I took leave 
of Prince Joseph, on my return to Paris, and reached that city on 
the 1 6th Messidor (July 5). 

On the following Sunday, the 19th, the Emperor came to Paris 
to give audience to the Ambassadors who were to present their new 
letters of credit. The German Ambassador was however not pres- 
ent. Some difficulties had arisen with regard to his letters, but 
they related less to the recognition of the title of Emperor of the 
French, than to that of King of the Lombards, which Napoleon 
wished to add to it, and which the Court of Vienna refused to ac- 
cord. These difficulties were removed shortly afterwards. 

All the ancient etiquette of Versailles had been revived on the 
occasion of this solemn audience. M. de Segur, recently ap- 
pointed Grand Master of the Ceremonies, took great pains to 
satisfy the various claims to rank, and to the right of entry to the 
different salons. It was a regular day of battle for him, but, 
thanks to his excellent memory, he came out of it gloriously, and 
with as much success as if his talents had not fitted him for far 
higher tasks. 

The Emperor perceived me among my colleagues, and spoke to 
me about my journey, asked affectionately after his brother, and told 
me that he intended setting out to join him almost immediately. 
This gracious reception, to which I was not accustomed, some- 
what surprised me, but I was much more surprised when the next 
day I was summoned by the Emperor to St. Cloud. I proceeded 
thither the same evening at nine o'clock, and a long conversation 
took place between the Emperor and myself, of which I will here 
set down the chief particulars. 

He informed me at the outset that he thought it necessary to 
re-establish the Ministry of Police, but that he had some new 
ideas about it. "It is my intention, ' ' said he, ' ' to distribute 
the whole territory of the Republic between four Councillors of 



348 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

State, and of these I intend you to be one. I believe that for the 
next thirty years it will be impossible to dispense with a system of 
police in France ; we must absolutely have recourse to it. But 
I purpose to direct that branch of the administration quite other- 
wise than has hitherto been done, I even propose to change its 
denomination. Through the institution which I contemplate I 
hope to obtain accurate and exact information on the state of pub- 
lic opinion in the Departments, and to learn of what men the 
tribunals, the administrative authorities, and the electoral colleges 
are composed. In short, we are very busy just now with the 
material statistics of France, but for my own part I wish to pro- 
cure its moral statistics and its moral geography. You can help 
me in carrying out this plan, and for that reason I have chosen 
you." 

I was quite unprepared for this proposal, which was, of all those 
that could be made me by the Emperor, the least agreeable to me. 
Nevertheless, I thought it my duty not to decline it. However 
uncongenial my new occupations might be to my tastes and hab- 
its, I felt that in the discharge of my new duties I should meet 
with fiequent opportunities of fulfilling my great desire to do some 
good. 

When he had received my consent and assured me I should 
have nothing whatever to do with the secret police, the Emperor 
resumed the conversation and told me he had thought of Fouche 
as Head of that Ministry. " He has rendered me great services," 
he continued, ' ' and is thoroughly accustomed to police business, 
for which he has remarkable talents. ' ' 

" No doubt," I replied, " it is not to be denied that Fouche 
deserves the kind of praise your Majesty has just now bestowed 
upon him ; but he bears a dreaded name, and his appointment 
will not be 'popular." 

** But," replied the Emperor quickly, " by appointing you, 
and by selecting another Councillor of State with the same views, 
such as Dauchy or Pelet (de la Lozere), or Bigot de Preameneu, 
I shall counterbalance the nomination of Fouche, and also that of 
Real, who is to retain his present functions as one of the four 
Councillors of State." * 

My objections being thus disposed of, and the Emperor having 
decided on Pelet (de la Lozere), on my association with whom I 
could not but congratulate myself, the conversation took another 
turn, and the Emperor reverted to my stay at Boulogne. He 
inquired minutely into the conduct of his brother, and, after hear- 

* Dubois, the Prefect of the Paris Police, was the fourth, but his juris- 
tliction extended only to the Department of the Seine. 



JOSEPH'S CONTRARIETY. 349 

ing the details which I gave him, and the praise with which I ac- 
companied them, he complained of the line taken by Prince 
Joseph in placing himself in opposition to what had just been 
done in Paris, and in affecting Republican manners and customs 
at a moment when he (the Emperor) might have hoped to have 
been seconded by his brother in the great changes that had been 
effected. * ' Does he think, ' ' said the Emperor, ' ' does he believe, 
I made these changes for myself alone ; that I care greatly for the 
titles he appears to despise ; that I do not appreciate them at their 
true value as he does ? I only assumed them in order to re-enter 
Europe. The popular imagination must be acted on by those 
means which have the most action upon it. Is it not a great suc- 
cess for me, to have reached, from the point from which I started, 
a position in which kings write to me ' My brother,' and to re- 
quire and obtain respect from Electors in the formulas of their 
letters ? And Joseph, instead of appreciating all the advantages of 
this new order of things, spends his time in writing philosophical 
epistles to Regnault and Jourdan. To Jourdan ! Does he think he 
can trust him and some day perhaps have his support ? Let him 
undeceive himself ! Joseph bears a name which cannot be made to 
suit either the partisans of the Bourbons or the Terrorists. For 
him there is no middle course ! After me, the Throne or nothing. 
To me, on the contrary, he writes cold letters which distress me. 
But the truth is he is not so good-hearted as I. It is true that at 
the first moment I am passionate, but I cool down again, and an 
appeal can always be made to my feelings ; Joseph is more re- 
sentful." 

I replied to these complaints with reserve. I assured the Em- 
peror that no one could be more attached to him than was his 
brother ; that the difference of opinion between them was not so 
decided as he supposed, and that it resulted in great measure from 
their separation ; that, made by nature to love each other, one 
hour's friendly conversation would explain away all the misunder- 
standings caused by absence, and that when they should have met 
again, in their respectively changed relations, their differences 
would be removed. 

The Emperor replied that he recognized in what I said the sin- 
cerity of my friendship for his brother ; that he had nothing to 
complain of in the sentiments Joseph had at various times ex- 
pressed, but that he failed to understand how it was that his brother 
invariably acted against the advice of those friends in whom he 
placed his confidence. This reflection led the Emperor to speak 
of Joseph' s refusal of the Chancellorship of the Senate some months 
previously. ' ' I had prepared everything, ' ' he continued, ' ' for his 
residence at the Luxembourg, and for his using that dignity as a 



350 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

first step by which he should rise to the position he is now holding, 
I had put the * Preteurs' before him, expressly to conceal my 
hand and to avoid startling anybody. You know his conduct at 
that time, his speeches at home, and at that same Luxembourg to 
which he now wants to return in the very capacity he then rejected. * 
His refusal compelled me to make a soldier of him ; a curious 
idea, but it was my only remaining resource. Besides there is no 
great harm in it. For the next thirty years a soldier will be needed 
to govern France, and it was necessary Joseph should become one. 
Now, at least, he knows what it is ; epaulettes don't frighten him ; 
he can get on horseback and command like anybody else. He 
must stick to that ; he must get promotion ; a decent wound, and 
a reputation. It is not so difficult as you might think. I shall 
do for him what I did for Moreau ; I will give him a bigger army 
than the enemy's ; he shall have everything that is easy to do ; I 
will keep the rest for myself. With all this, he can win a battle, 
and there he is on a line with the other military leaders." 

I demurred to this last idea. *' I do not believe," I said to the 
Emperor, " that Prince Joseph can think of seriously beginning a 
military career, at his age, or of seeking for glory in one. There 
are, at the present time, too many established militar}'- reputations 
to leave a hope of making one at so small a cost. That which 
was possible at the beginning of the Revolution is no longer pos- 
sible. Besides, Prince Joseph is the natural head of the Civil sys- 
tem : that is his place ; and although I anticipate a good result 
from his residence in camp, his true place — where his success, I 
believe, will be certain — is the Presidency of the Senate and the 
Councils." 

The Emperor interrupted me. " I intend," said he, " to recall 
him almost immediately, and to provide him with a suitable estab- 
lishment. " - 

And ttien, after dwelling strongly on his affection for his brother, 
who, he said, had always been his favourite, he dismissed me. 

On the following day the Council of State was summoned to 
meet at St. Cloud. The Emperor presiding, announced the re- 
establishmcnt of the Ministry of Police, with the modifications of 
which he had already informed me, and proposed to change its 
name to that of Ministry of Interior Relations. All was approved 
of except the last proposition, which Cambaceres opposed as a mis- 
take, an uncalled-for scruple of delicacy, and it was negatived. I 
had greatly desired that the Council should adopt it, and from what 

* As Grand Elector, Prince Joseph would preside over the Senate 
under certain circumstances, and his new duties were in some sort simi- 
lar to those of the Chancellorship that he had scorned to accept. 



THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENTS. 35 1 

the Emperor had told me, I hoped that they would have done so. 
But although I was disappointed in this, I had gone too far to 
draw back, and I entered at once on my new duties. In the di- 
vision of the territory of France assigned to me were included the 
departments of the North, and especially those on the left bank of 
the Rhine, inhabited by industrious and, generally speaking, peace- 
ful people, whose moderate opinions had kept them aloof from the 
political agitation which had so often disturbed the Southern and 
Western provinces. The departments under my charge asked only 
ior peace and for protection in their industrial pursuits, or rather, 
for permission to carry them on without interference. So far as 
these benefits depended on my influence, they enjoyed them. I 
neither permitted inquisitorial espionage, nor disturbed the man- 
ufacturers or their workshops ; and during the time that I retained 
my post, there was never any occasion for the interference of the 
police. I had, in fact, to temper the zeal of certain prefects, who, 
in order to prove their devotion to the new order of things, created 
more enemies than it really had, so that they might have the glory 
of combating them. Among these over-zealous persons was M. 
de Vaublanc, then Prefect of the Department of the Moselle, who 
never thought he had sufficiently proved his devotion to the 
Emperor, unless he had awakened his suspicions of all those 
under his administration who either did not share his sentiments or 
displayed them with less warmth and enthusiasm than his own. 

I have little to say about my new duties, which, as I have before 
observed, lay quite apart from affairs of police properly so called, 
which were exclusively reserved to Fouche and Dubois. My 
occupations increased, and filled up almost every moment of my 
time, without in any way extending my opportunities for obser- 
vation. I shall therefore continue to record matters of more 
general interest, and which may thereafter serve as materials for the 
history of a memorable epoch. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The ceremonial of the distribution of the crosses of the Legion of Honour 
in Paris — The Emperor proceeds to Boulogne and performs the same 
ceremony at the camp— His return to Paris is followed by that of 
Prince Joseph — Russia and England — The Emperor's satisfaction at 
the prospect of a Continental war — He discloses gigantic projects to 
his generals in order to stimulate their ambition — He detaches himself 
from the Republican party, and inclines to the old nobility — The am- 
bassador of Austria is furnished with new letters of credit to the Em- 
peror of the French — The Pope consents to come to Paris for the Cor- 
onation — That solemnity is definitely fixed for the beginning of De- 
cember — The formation of the Emperor's household and of those of 
his brothers — Curious omission in the wording of the National Vote on 
the Imperial succession — Discussion on the ceremonial of the Corona- 
tion — Violent altercation between Napoleon and Joseph — An explana- 
tion takes place between the Emperor and Prince Joseph at Fontaine- 
bleau, in consequence of which the latter conforms to the views of his 
brother — The result of the votes of the people on the Imperial system 
is taken in State to the Tuileries by the Senate — Coronation and con- 
secration of the Emperor and Empress, followed by numerous fetes — 
Solemn opening of the Legislative session — Addresses from the Legis- 
lative Body and the Tribunate — An incident relating to the terms used 
in those addresses. 

Before setting out for Boulogne, where he was anxious to show 
himself to the army, and to receive from the acclamations of his 
soldiers the confirmation of the title conferred on him by the Sen- 
ate, the Emperor resolved to make a display of all his grandeur on 
the occasion of distributing the decorations of the Legion of 
Honour, and thus to usher in the military pomp which was to at- 
tend the same solemn celebration at the camp. 

The ceremony took place in Paris, on Sunday, the 20th IVIessi- 
dor, Year XH. (July 16, 1804), in the Church of the Invalides. 
On his way thither, the Emperor was, on the whole, more warmly 
received than I had expected. Public feeling seemed less hostile, 
either out of weariness or because people remembered the great 
and useful deeds which Napoleon had done. The appearance of 
the church, hung witli the trophies of the numerous victories as- 
sociated with the name of Bonaparte, was magnificent. Every face 
beamed with joy and satisfaction. The Emperor, seated on his 
throne, distribut<id decorations to all the members of the Legion 



THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 353 

then in Paris, and the strange medley of men who received them 
made a deep impression. It was gratifying to see services so 
diverse, m-erit and talent so different, rewarded with the same 
honours. The idea was a grand one, and ought to ensure the 
duration of an institution established on so noble a principle. 
Time has confirmed that happy augury, and, notwithstanding the 
numerous attacks it has sustained since its foundation, it still ex- 
ists. Of all institutions of the kind, it is, in fact, the only one 
that, strictly speaking, can be regarded as reasonable. 

So soon as the ceremonies were concluded in Paris, the Em- 
peror set out to renew them at the Boulogne Camp with a military 
display of the greatest magnificence. The subaltern officers and 
soldiers who had previously obtained arms of honour received the 
same decoration as their officers, and this uniformity of reward, 
among classes hitherto held apart by ancient prejudice, kindled 
fresh ardour in the troops. Policy had never made a better calcu- 
lation ; never had deeper devotion or more of that emulation 
which gives birth to prodigies of valour been aroused in the soldier. 
It is true that it involved a substitution of the love of glory and 
distinction for the love of liberty by which the soldier had been 
animated in the early years of the Revolution ; but the former 
feeling served the purpose of the monarch and the conqueror better 
than the latter, and if, as citizens, we cannot praise the end that 
Napoleon desired to attain, as philosophers we cannot withhold 
our admiration from the means he employed. 

The two brothers met again during the stay of the Emperor at 
Boulogne, and from what Girardin wrote to me, the interview was 
not unfriendly. A few days after the Emperor's arrival in Paris, 
Prince Joseph also returned thither. He assumed his various dig- 
nities, presided over the Senate on one occasion as Grand Elector, 
and took up his residence in the apartments of the Luxembourg 
that had been reserved for his use. I visited him, and, in the 
course of a long conversation, I gathered much information, both 
on the state of our foreign relations and on the intentions of the 
Emperor. 

The political horizon was darkening at the close of Year XII. 
and we were already threatened with a rupture with Russia. Eng- 
land had cleverly made use of the dissatisfaction created at St. 
Petersburg by the death of the Due d'Enghien — a dissatisfaction 
increased by M. de Markoff's dispatches— to contract a fresh alli- 
ance with Russia. The two powers were united by resentment 
against France ; but Napoleon, placed between the two alterna- 
tives of peace or of attempting a descent on England, and having 
little hope of succeeding in the first, even had he sincerely desired 
it, while dreading the uncertainty and the danger involved in the 



354 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

last, and conscious meanwhile of the necessity of regaining popu- 
larity by some brilliant action that would dazzle the imagination 
of the people, Napoleon, I say, looked with very little alarm on 
the prospect of a Continental war. Such a Arar would afford him 
the only honourable escape from the difficult position in which he 
found himself, and in his heart he desired much more than he 
feared it Full of confidence in his great military talents and in 
the temper of his soldiers, he saw in war a means of resuming the 
struggle on ground that suited him, and where fresh triumphs 
would atone for the elevation to w^hich he had reached. He 
therefore took great pains to revive the ambition of his generals, 
who were beginning to feel a longing for rest, by opening up to 
their imagination a new and splendid career. " What I have ac- 
complished hitherto,'' he said to his brothers and to a few general 
officers with whom he was on familiar terms, ** is nothing. There 
will be no repose for Europe until she is under only one Head — 
an Emperor whose subalterns should be kings, who should dis- 
tribute kingdoms among his lieutenants, making of one, the King 
of Italy, giving Bavaria to another, raising a third to be Landam- 
man of Switzerland, and a fourth to be Stadtholder of Holland, 
while all of them should hold places in the Imperial Household, 
with titles of Grand Cup-Bearer, Grand Butler, Grand Equerry, 
Grand Huntsman, etc. It may be said that this plan would be 
an imitation of the Empire of Germany, and that the idea is not a 
new one ; but there is nothing absolutely new : political institu- 
tions do but revolve in a circle, and it is often necessary to return 
to what has been done before. ' ' 

" Nor," added the Emperor, " do I regret having acted as I 
did towards the Due d'Enghien. Only thus could I remove all 
doubt as to my real intention, and destroy the hopes of the Bour- 
bon ists. Tn short, I cannot disguise from myself that I shall only 
be secure on my throne when not a single Bourbon is in existence ; 
and there is now one less of them. He was the last of the great 
Conde's blood ; the last heir of the grandest and fairest name of 
that house. He was young, bright, courageous, and consequently 
my most dangerous enemy. It was a sacrifice absolutely necessary 
for my safety and my greatness. At the present moment there re- 
main but the two sons of the Count d'Artois, both without chil- 
dren, one of them unmarried, and not likely to find a wife even 
among our enemies. England has refused him one of her daugh- 
ters ; Russia will have none of his alliance, because both powers 
know that some day peace must be made, and that entanglements 
of that kind would render it impossible. I have thus, as far as it 
was practicable, reduced the number of chances against me. And 
not only would I do what I have done over again, if necessary, 



EUROPEAN RECOGNITION. 355 

but to-morrow, if I had the chance, I would do the same by the 
two last scions of the family." 

In such fashion as this, in conversation with his brother and his 
trusty generals, Murat, Lannes, Ney, and a few others, did the 
Emperor unfold the future, and by means of brilliant prospects for 
themselves, make them partners in his Titanic designs. But in 
proportion as he gained the affection of the army and its chief 
officers, he began to separate himself from the Republican party. 
He was glad to have lowered it in public opinion by the conces- 
sions he had obtained from it in favour of the Imperial system ; 
and, so soon as he regarded it as no longer necessary to him, he 
began to give it the cold shoulder and to turn towards the old 
nobles. He appointed them to places at his Court, and thought 
he could bind them to himself by the favours he bestowed. This 
was a strange mistake, and he afterwards experienced its fatal con- 
sequences. 

Meanwhile, every European Power, with the exception of Eng- 
land and Russia, was yielding to his newly-acquired rank, and 
recognising him as the Emperor of the French. Austria, who had 
hesitated for a while, but who felt herself as yet unequal to the 
aggression she contemplated, and which in fact she attempted a 
year later, despatched her ambassador to Paris with fresh letters of 
credit in the month of Fructidor ; and Napoleon, in return for 
that concession, endeavoured to allay the uneasiness of the Em- 
peror of Germany concerning the title of King of Lombardy. He 
announced his formal intention of separating that part of Italy 
from the Crown of France, and of erecting it into a kingdom, to 
be bestowed on his brother Joseph, if that Prince, on accepting it, 
would renounce his right of succession to the Imperial Throne of 
France. It will be seen hereafter that Joseph's refusal to consent 
to this renunciation, by disconcerting Napoleon's project, became 
the occasion of further and more serious dissensions between the 
brothers than those that already existed. 

Although the Emperor felt his seat on the throne more secure 
after his recognition by foreign Courts, who thus, as it were, legiti- 
mized his elevation, he did not consider himself altogether a sov- 
ereign so long as a religious ceremony had not consecrated the 
crown he had placed on his head. The date of this solemn cere- 
mony, which had been fixed at first for the 26th Messidor (July 
14), had been postponed to the i8th Brumaire, Year XIII. (Nov. 
9, 1804). But certain of the reasons that had caused the rejec- 
tion of the former date were equally opposed to the adoption of the 
latter. That date would also have recalled recollections little in 
harmony with the recent changes. In particular, it would have 
brought to mind the services of certain men who had greatly con- 



356 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tributed to the success of the day, the most remarkable being that 
same Lucien Bonaparte who was now struck out of the hne of 
succession and had been sent into exile. Moreover the Pope still 
hesitated to undertake a journey to Paris. Caffarelli, an aide-de- 
camp of the Emperor, who had been despatched to Rome to 
obtain the consent of Pius VII. to the journey had been obliged 
to have recourse to threats in order to wrest it from him. At 
length, the Pope was about to set out, but it was impossible to 
insist on rapid travelling for an aged man, especially at so late a 
season of the year, and in any case it was impossible for the Pon- 
tiff to arrive before the end of Brumaire (middle of November). 
The consecration was therefore definitely fixed for the beginning 
of December. 

It is remarkable that at the very time when he was soliciting the 
Pope to come to Paris for the consecration, Napoleon was strongly 
opposing the return of the Jesuits, who were coming back to 
France under the name of Pacanaristes, Fathers of the Faiih, etc. 
On the 1 8th Vendemiaire, Year XIII. (October lo, 1804), he 
gave positive orders to the Minister of Police to oppose their estab- 
lishment in France, as well as that of any other religious associa- 
tion of men, of whatsoever kind. *' I will have no religious 
militia in France," he wrote. 

In the interval, before the coronation, the Emperor employed 
himself in forming his own and his brother's households on the 
following principles. " Both my household and yours," said he 
to Prince Joseph, " if they are to be worth anything, must consist 
only of military men and of the ancient nobility. Yon must select 
from among the Senators and Councillors of State, of whom you 
have already thought, those only who fulfil at least one of these 
conditions ; the others must be excluded, and their wives also. 
You must choose your officers and your ladies of the palace among 
the old nobility, especially among the nobles of countries recently 
united to France, such as Belgium and Piedmont. Follow my 
example ; I have chosen Salms, Arembergs, La Rochefoucaulds, 
Montcsquious, for my household and my wife's. Do the same ; 
there are plenty of noble names left, among whom you can suit 
yourself." 

In this way did the Emperor reprove his brother, who had 
thought of Boissy d'Anglas, Jaucourt, Girardin, and me, for he 
showed great friendliness towards all of us, and wished to attach 
us especially to himself, either in our own persons or that of our 
wives. The F2mperor blamed in particular his choice of Boissy 
d'Anglas and of Jaucourt, on account of their religion. *' It is 
scarcely the. moment, " said he to Joseph, "when I am sending 
for the Pope to consecrate me, for you to surround yourself with 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. 357 

Protestants. ' ' The Prince persisted, nevertheless, in a part of his 
design. Girardin and Jaucourt were appointed to his household, 
the former as First Equerry, and the latter as First Chamberlain. 
My wife was made Lady of the Palace to the Princess. But this 
diversity of views soon occasioned further grave domestic dissen- 
sion. 

A curious incident which occurred a few days after the above 
conversation also contributed to darken the clouds now lowering 
in the Imperial Family. During the month of Brumaire, the 
Senatus-Consultum was being prepared which was to announce, 
prior to the coronation, the return of the votes of the French peo- 
ple, recognising the succession of the Imperial dignity in the family 
of Bonaparte. It was Roederer' s duty to make this report, and in 
drawing it up, he thought it well to insist on the advantages of the 
established mode of succession, particularly on the Article which 
conferred the Imperial dignity on the brothers of the Emperor, in 
case of the death of the latter without leaving either children, of 
his own, or by adoption. But on examining the terms of the 
vote, he perceived that this very disposition was wanting, and that 
consequently the nation had voted only for the descendants of the 
Emperor's brother, and not his brothers themselves. The vote, 
in fact, was drawn up in the following terms : 

" The people desire the Heredity of the Imperial dignity to be 
vested in the direct, natural, legitimate and adopted descendants 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural and legitimate 
descendants of Joseph and of Louis Bonaparte, as regulated by the 
Senatus-Consultum of 28th Floreal, YearXIL" 

This provision formed Article XVI. of the Senatus-Consultum, 
but on comparing it with Article II. treating of the succession, it 
will be seen that it is incomplete, and that before the words, " in 
the descendants of Joseph a7id Louis Bonaparte'' these others are 
wanting : *' /« the persons of Joseph and Louis Bonaparte." 
Through the omission of these, the individual rights of the two 
brothers to the succession were not made to rest on the National 
will, but only on the provisions of the Senatus-Consultum, a far 
less solemn guarantee than that which would result from a vote 
given by the people and publicly .proclaimed with the greatest 
pomp. From this defective wording, it followed that Joseph hav- 
ing no son, the succession reverted to the son of Louis, even had 
he not attained the age when he might be adopted ; thus systema- 
tizing the Emperor's favourite project, which had already caused 
so much alarm to the rest of the family, and which they had found 
it so hard to circumvent. 

Now, was this omission — or this restriction — whichever it may 
be called — the result of mere unnoticed carelessness, or of 



358 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

design ? It was difficult to suppose it could have escaped the 
jiiercing glance of the Emperor, and the pains he took to remove 
everything from the report on which Roederer was engaged that 
might have repaired the blunder, proved that at least he intended 
to keep in reser\'e the power it afforded hini. These curious par- 
ticulars were given me by Roederer, on the 13th Brumaire (Nov. 
4), On the preceding day he had had a long conversation on the 
subject with Napoleon, which, treating as it did, of the most deli- 
cate matter that could be discussed with the Emperor, had been 
very impassioned and full of bitter complaints of his brothers, . 
more especially of Joseph. Napoleon protested that, in spite of 
all their endeavours, his wife should be crowned, and that he 
would seek for support in her family since he could not find it in 
his own. 

Such was the state of feeling on both sides, when the Emperor, 
as the arrival of the Pope drew near, summoned a final council at 
St. Cloud, on the 26th Brumaire (Nov. 17), for the definitive 
regulation of the ceremonial, and the various circumstances of the 
consecration and coronation. The Council consisted of the two 
brothers of the Emperor ; of Arch-chancellor Cambaceres ; Arch- 
treasurer Lebrun ; Champagny, Minister of the Interior ; Tal- 
leyrand, Grand Chamberlain ; Segur, Grand INIaster of the Cere- 
monies ; Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Court ; and Caulaincourt, 
Grand Equerry. A great number of points were discussed, and 
agreed to Avithout difficulty, and the regulations as to costumes, 
which had been decreed by the Council of State on the 26th 
Prairial, were confirmed with very slight alterations. But the sit- 
ting did not terminate as peaceably as it had begun. The Emper- 
or, reverting to the question of costumes, suggested that the attire 
which had been arranged for the Princes of his family, and for the 
high dignitaries, and which principally consisted of a long mantle, 
almost like his own, and of even a more brilliant colour, would 
cause something like confusion between him and them, and that 
with the exception of himself, no one present, w^hatever his rank 
and dignity, should appear in a long mantle. The Arch-chancellor 
listened in consternation. " What would the public think when 
they did not see the costumes they had already heard of and ex- 
pected ? What would the tailors and embroiderers think, who 
had already begun their work, and whose labours would have to be 
stopped ? If only this alteration had been made, before the first 
arrangement had become generally known, it would have been easy 
to agree to it ; in that case it would have been merely a private 
affair, and few persons would have been aware of the change." 
The Emperor seemed very little affected by these lamentations, 
and, turning to Prince Joseph, asked him for his opinion. 



MANTLE, OR NO MANTLE. 359 

The Prince saw no objection to the proposed aheration, and 
gSLve his reasons readily. * ' The grand mantle, ' ' said he, * * the 
ermine-bordered mantle, was always an attribute of sovereignty. 
Formerly, it is true, it was worn by dukes also, and by princes 
who did not reign ; but under certain circumstances they repre- 
sented sovereigns, and it was a kind of fiction by which recollec- 
tions of the past were perpetuated. At the present day, I know of 
no recollections to be perpetuated, and no fictions to be kept up. 
There is now but one Head of the State, one First Magistrate, and 
he alone should display the distinguishing signs of sovereignty. 
For my own part, I look with pleasure on the alteration. My 
mantle must have been borne by some of my grand officers, and I 
should have been greatly averse to receiving that kind of service 
from them. I cannot forget that, until quite lately, these same 
persons were my equals, and my friends. ' ' 

Several parts of this reply seemed to displease the Emperor ; he 
was especially offended by the word Magistrate ; he even inter- 
rupted his brother, with the words, *' Why do you not say Sov- 
ereign ? ' ' 

Prince Joseph's opinion, in which he was supported by the 
Arch-treasurer, who declared himself in favour of anything which 
would tend to curtail the ceremony, was agreed to without diffi- 
culty. But a violent altercation arose on a proposition made by 
Prince Joseph, as a natural consequence of the principle that had 
just been laid down. " Since it is admitted," said he, " that 
with the exception of the Head of the State, no other person, of 
whatsoever rank, can be held to participate in the honours of sover- 
eignty, and that we ourselves in particular are no longer treated 
as princes, but only as great dignitaries ; it would not be just that 
our wives, who henceforward are only the wives of great dignita- 
ries, should carry the train of the Empress's court mantle, as if 
they were princesses. * It must now be borne by her ladies of 
honour, or the ladies of the palace." 

The Emperor listened impatiently, and the Councillors present 
hastened to refute Prince Joseph's argument, and to quote several 
examples, especially that of Marie de Medicis. 

Prince Joseph, who was prepared for this objection, displayed 
an unexpected knowledge of the subject. He proved that Marie 
was only accompanied by Queen Marguerite, and by Madame, the 
sister of Henri IV. , but that the train of her mantle was carried by 
a distant kinswoman ; that Queen Marguerite had certainly dis- 
played noble generosity by being present at the coronation of one 

* This was one of the provisions of the ceremonial as previously ar- 
ranged. 







Go MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



M'ho had taken her place, and who, more fortunate than herself, 
had given heirs to the king ; but that although she was the highest 
in rank among the company, still neither she nor even Madame, 
had been required to bear the train of INIarie de Medicis, who 
nevertheless had a right to every possible Jhonour ; for, being a 
mother, she possessed the strongest title by which queens can 
claim such honours, and the people grant them. 

Nothing on earth was more calculated to incense the Emperor 
than such words ; they wounded him to the quick. He lost all 
control over himself, and, rising abruptly from his seat, he roughly 
apostrophized his brother, reproaching him with his popular opin- 
ions, and the friends who encouraged them, with equal vehemence 
and bitterness. His, anger, in fact, rose so high that the Prince 
was several times on the point of offering his resignation. But he 
restrained himself, and the sitting closed without any definite 
result. 

After the Council was over, the Emperor withdrew to his private 
room, with his two brothers, and the Grand Dignitaries, Cam- 
baceres and Lebrun. There he resumed the conversation with the 
same heat ; and the quarrel became more and more violent. 
Prince Joseph thought it his duty to do now what he had prudently 
abstained from doing at the Council, he offered to send in his res- 
ignation to his brother, and to retire into Germany. This propo- 
sition calmed the Emperor's agitation ; he cooled a little, and the 
brothers parted coldly, indeed, but more peaceably. Six days 
after this angry scene, the Emperor, without having again seen his 
brother, set out for Fontainebleau to receive the Pope, who arrived 
there on the 3d Frimaire (Nov. 22). But he summoned Prince 
Joseph to Fontainebleau, and entered into an explanation with 
him, of which I will now set down the principal points as I wrote 
them out on the day (the 8th Frimaire) that they were communi- 
cated to me by the Prince. He repeated the Emperor's own 
words. 

" I have reflected deeply," he said to his brother, " on the 
differences that have arisen between )ou and me, and I will begin 
by owning that for the last six days they have deprived me of one 
moment's rest. I have been unable to sleep, and only you can 
influence me to .such an extent. I know of nothing else that could 
so disturb me. It is because of my old affection for you, because 
I remember yours for me fnjm my childhood ; and I am much 
more influenced by this kind of feeling than you think. I am at- 
tached to you also because of my belief in the excellence of your 
character, and of your lieart. I know that you are incapable of a 
crime, and that whatever the benefits to be conferred on yuu by my 
death, you would never purchase them by an attempt on my life. 



A PROPOSAL. 361 



* • I am now going to lay before you the result of my reflections 
on our respective positions. Three courses are open to you ; that 
of sending in your resignation, withdrawing bona fide from public 
affairs and renouncing everything ; that of continuing to enjoy 
princely rank, and yet of remaining as hitherto in opposition to my 
policy ; and lastly that of frankly joining me and being, to speak 
plainly, my first subject. 

" The first course is practicable, and although it does not 
altogether fall in with my views, yet I can contrive to make it suit 
me. Send me in your resignation quietly, without scandal, on the 
pretext of ill-health ; retire to Morfontaine ; act the invalid during 
the winter : nurse your rheumatism. I will grant you a million ; 
two, if necessary ; you will buy an estate in Italy, near Turin ; in 
the spring you will travel in Germany or in Russia. You have 
nothing to fear from me. I am not a family tyrant. I shall never 
commit a crime, since I have not committed one, by separating 
from my wife, by accomplishing a divorce which I felt to be neces- 
sary and had resolved on in my mind, until I took that journey 
through Normandy and Belgium which gave me an opportunity of 
learning all the meanness of the French and convinced me that, 
without going so far as that, I could obtain whatever I chose from 
their servility. 

** As for me, I would, after your renunciation, have the son of 
Louis declared heir, by a Senatus-Consultum, but he should not 
succeed me before he had attained the age of eighteen, and I would 
appoint a Regency, of which Louis should be the head, Cam- 
baceres and Lebrun the members. 

*' I repeat, however, that although I can make these arrange- 
ments, they do not quite please me. I am not ignorant that 
when you are gone, I shall be entirely in the hands of my wife 
and her family ; that there will be no curb on the latter, and that 
Louis's character, being too weak for opposition, I shall be ex- 
posed to the chance of having done such great deeds, endured 
such great labour, taken so much pains, only perhaps to call to the 
throne a man of another name than mine. But, at any rate, this 
course would be a complete one, and that which is complete is 
always good. You do not care for power, you renounce it. I 
do not blame you ; no one can know better than I, how heavy is 
the burden of it. But from the moment in which you withdraw 
from public affairs, the nation, or at least that part of the nation 
which approved your politics, has no hope in you. I no longer 
fear to see you at the head of a party, because you no longer be- 
long in any way to the system of Government ; I dread you no 
more, and I continue my advance, though less easily, towards 
the goal which I desire to reach. 



362 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

** The second course, that which you have hitherto followed, 
is on the contrary, no longer endurable. 

" If you refuse to come to the consecration, and there to dis- 
charge the functions assigned to you as Grand Elector and Prince, 
and nevertheless you persist in retaining those titles, with their 
prerogatives, you are thenceforth my enemy. And what are your 
means of attack ? Where is the army you can bring against me ? 
Who will help you to dispute the Empire with me ? You possess 
nothing, and I shall crush you. For, after all, you will have to 
appear at the Tuileries ; on seeing you I will call out ' Good day. 
Prince Egalite ! ' and that word will kill you. I will cast you 
back among the crowd of courtiers ; I will converse with the other 
dignitaries and I will not speak to you. You could not stand this 
even for a couple of'years ; you will take some passionate step, 
which will place you at my mercy, and your ruin will be com- 
plete. I foretold you this same thing concerning Moreau, and so 
it happened. Besides, I am determined to dispel, from the be- 
ginning, the smallest cloud that appears on the horizon. You 
know how at the slightest sign of opposition I struck down Chenier 
and Carnot. I know the risk of innovators, and I will have none 
of them. I speak frankly, because you are clever enough to un- 
derstand me, and have too much principle to attempt a crime, 
which on the hypothesis we are now discussing, is the only risk I 
could incur from you. 

" The third course is the simplest, the most proper, and the one 
on which you should decide ; take your place in an hereditary 
monarchy, and be my first subject ! It is rather a fine part to 
play, that of the second man in France, perhaps in Europe. 
Ever}thing becomes justified by the importance of its results, and 
you do not yet fully estimate those results. I am called to change 
the face of the world, at least so I believe ; something of fatalism, 
perhaps, tinges this idea, but I do not reject fatalism. I believe 
in it, and that confidence gives me the means of success. Keep 
your place, therefore, in a system of hereditary monarchy, which 
promises you so many advantages. Look upon yourself as neces- 
sarily my heir, and whatever you do for me is thereby authorized 
in your own future. This system, as you know, was not mine, I 
preferred the Imperial-Electoral system. In that, 1 should have 
been free ; there would have been no heir apparent attaching a 
party to himself, there would have been no hopes or fears in- 
dependent of me ; I should have been master both of the present 
and of the future, since that future must depend on a choice that 
it was mine to make. However, things are as they are, and we 
will keep them so ; the advantages are sufficient to make me ac- 
cept the situation. But the line you have adopted, your oppo- 



AN ALTERNATIVE. 363 



sition, have made me take several steps not usual in an hereditary 
monarchy, maTiy that I should not otherwise have taken. But for 
you I should not have decided on the consecration and coronation 
of the Empress. But, mark you, you must take your rightful 
position under a Monarchy ; do my will, follow the same path as 
I : do not flatter the Patriots while I repulse them ; do not snub 
the nobles while I am inviting their approach — establish your 
household on the plan of mine ; invite ladies of the old nobility 
to attend on your wife, not women of the middle classes or wet- 
nurses ; * be a prince, in short, and don't be scared at the conse- 
quences of that title. When you succeed to the throne, you can 
return, if you choose, to your favourite ideas. I shall be no 
more. 

" On these conditions we shall get on ^vell together, and I don't 
mind owning to you that the third course is the one I should wish 
you to adopt, though, I can, if need be, put up with the first ; 
but I shall not allow you to follow the second. You have now 
heard me." 

This explanation induced Joseph to conform to the views of the 
Emperor, as regarded the coronation, and although he did not 
adopt the third course as heartily as might have been wished, yet 
he proved more tractable than he had yet been. On the occasion 
of the coronation, which took place soon after, he accepted and 
discharged the functions assigned to him by the ceremonial. The 
Princess, his wife, conformed cheerfully to them also, only in the 
official report, in order to spare their ieeVings the words /o suppor/ //le 
mantle,\ were used, instead of to hear the train.\ To such straws 
will vanity cling for its rescue from mortification. 

On the loth Frimaire (December i), the Council of State was 
summoned to the Tuileries, to be present at the reception of the 
Senate, who were bringing in State the list of votes for the Heredity 
of the Imperial dignity in the Bonaparte family. The reception 
took place in one of the salons in which a long platform surrounded 
with a gilt balustrade had been erected. On this was placed a 
magnificent throne, surmounted by a purple canopy embroidered 

|- with golden bees. The whole thing was very handsome, but not 
in the best taste, and too large in proportion to the size and shape 
of the room. The eyes of all were turned on this novel construc- 

^'Aion ; the Emperor alone seemed quite at his ease. The Senate 
having been introduced, Franfois de Neufchateau, the Vice-Presi- 

* The latter expression referred to one of Princess Julia's ladies, to 
whom she was specially attached, and who was excessively stout. By 
his allusion to women of the middle class he meant my wife. 

f Soutenir le manteau. \ Porter la queue. 



364 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

dent, made a speech, or rather a long dissertation that lasted nearly 
three quarters of an hour. The Emperor's reply was short, but 
remarkable, because in speaking of the nation he used the words 
" my People." This was the first time he employed that expres- 
sion. I observed great surprise on the faces round me, when these 
words were pronounced, but every one was silent. 

After this last proceeding on the part of the Senate, there could 
be no further delay. Everything was sanctioned by the National 
will so solemnly expressed. The coronation was fixed for the en- 
suing day ; the order of it was prescribed in an exact programme, 
the production of M. de Segur. In the first draft of this impor- 
tant composition, at Article 46, Title IV., were these words : 
" Their ^lajesties will receive Holy Communion ;" but in the 
copies sent officially to the various authorities, they were altered by 
hand, to "If their Majesties receive Holy Communion. " And in 
the copy of the Programme published by the ' Moniteur' of the 
9th Frimaire, the whole phrase is suppressed and there is no allu- 
sion to Communion. It was asserted at the time that the impos- 
sibility of ascertaining the condition of the consecrated bread and 
wine that would have been given to the Emperor was the reason of 
this alteration, and that it was thought imprudent to trust the 
Italian Prelates in such a matter. 

The day that had been prepared for by so many schemes dawned 
at length, and on Sunday, the nth Frimaire, Year XIII. (Dec. 2, 
1804), leap-year, the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Jose- 
phine were solemnly crowned and consecrated at the Metropolitan 
Church of Notre Dame de Paris, by Pope Pius VII. I was pres- 
ent at the ceremony ; but I will only narrate here the particular 
circumstances that came under my own observation, the writings 
and newspapers of the time having given a sufficient description of 
every detail. 

On the whole the affair went off well. The procession was mag- 
nificent and good order prevailed. During its progress through 
Paris some cheering was heard, but it was neither frequent nor 
enthusiastic. The i)coi)le, however, seemed to be in good spirits ; 
the cross-bearer, who preceded the carriage of the Holy Father, 
mounted on a mule, especially excited the hilarity of the lookers-on. 
The windows were hung with garlands and tapestries, and, notwith- 
standing the severity of the weather, were filled with spectators. 

The scene in the cathedral was imposing. The Emperor, at 
the moment of his entry, was extremely grave and composed ; but 
during the course of the ceremony, on hearing the applause that 
burst forth several times, he unbent, and let it be seen that he was 
gratified by the flattering homage : he bowed right and left to the 
various authorities. 



THE CORONATION. 365 



The Empress bore herself with modest dignity and exquisite 
grace. She seemed made for the part she was performing. 

The Pope received some applause along the route, and must 
have been satisfied with his reception. His presence, however, 
did not awake the religious admiration displayed by the multitude 
in former times towards the Roman Pontiffs. The respect paid 
him was addressed rather to the white hair of the venerable old 
man than to the tiara on his brow. 

There were beautiful illuminations at night. The people 
thronged the streets, and amused themselves as they always do, no 
matter what may be the occasion on which they are treated to shows 
and illuminations, or whom the individual honoured. 

To this opening day succeeded a fortnight of fetes, receptions, 
and State audiences, either at the Tuileries or at the Hotel de 
Ville. The Emperor seemed to take pleasure in this display. He 
had issued commands to all the authorities not to appear at Court 
during this period, except in the state-costumes worn on the Coro- 
nation Day. No accident or vexatious circumstances interfered 
with this long series of festivities. A singular incident disturbed 
for a short time the fete of the 14th Frimaire (Dec. 5), when eagles 
were distributed to the various detachments of the army who had 
come to Paris in order to receive them. From twenty-five to thirty 
thousand of the finest French troops were assembled for this 
solemn ceremony on the Champ de Mars, and the Emperor, sur- 
rounded by his court and the great bodies of the State, was seated 
on a throne, placed on a semicircular platform in front of the Mil- 
itary School. In the middle of the ceremony, a young man ad- 
vanced towards the steps of the throne, and exclaimed in a loud 
voice : No Emperor ! Liberty or death / He was immediately 
arrested, and I never heard his name. The circumstance, how- 
ever, made little impression, very few persons heard his exclama- 
tion ; for the crowd had been dispersed by the bad weather. There 
was a banquet at the Tuileries on the same evening. Several 
tables were spread in the Gallery of Diana. The Emperor, the 
Empress, the Imperial Family and the Pope dined together at 
one of them. The Diplomatic Body, the ladies, the Grand 
Officers and the principal Public Officials dined at separate tables. 
Much dissatisfaction was caused by this etiquette, especially 
among the Foreign Ambassadors, who felt aggrieved at not being 
admitted to the Princes' table. The ambassadors of Austria 
(Cobentzel), of Spain (Gravina), of Portugal (de Lima), and of 
Holland (Schimmelpenninck) absented themselves from the ban- 
quet. Notwithstanding these slight vexations, the Emperor was, 
on the whole, satisfied with the quiet that had prevailed in Paris, 
and with this new trial of the people's docility, which had turned 



366 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



out better than he had expected. ** I remarked indeed," he said 
to his brother Joseph, on the 19th Frimaire, "that there was no 
real enthusiasm anywhere, but neither were the fetes disturbed in 
any way. For me, it is a battle won, and I have gained by good 
management more than I could have hoped for." Everything 
had been equally tranquil in the Departments ; and this tranquil- 
lity will not appear one of the least wonderful signs of the times, 
if we remember that, during the festivities, which lasted over a 
month, all the Generals in command of Divisions, all the Prefects, 
all the Magistrates, and the flower of the army were in Paris, and 
that their absence in no way affected the ordinary progress of affairs, 
nor occasioned the slightest disorder. 

In order to take full possession of all the attributes of sover- 
eignty, the Emperor had now only to exhibit them at the opening 
of a legislative session, in presence of the two bodies, who by a 
kind of fiction were still considered as the representatives of the 
nation. This took place on the 5th Nivose (Dec. 27). The 
Emperor repaired in State to the palace occupied by the Legislative 
Body, where the Tribunate and the Council of State had been 
convened. A deputation from the Senate was present After 
receiving the oaths of the Members of the Legislature, the Em- 
peror read from the throne a speech which was published in the 
* Moniteur ' of the 7th Nivose, Year XIII. That characteristic 
expression of sovereignty, the words My people, is repeated. 

But, on the whole, the speech afforded satisfaction, because it 
contained an assurance that during that year no further sacrifices 
would be required of the nation. The Emperor read it in a firm 
voice, though rather hurriedly, and, as it was the first time he 
spoke in public, his faults of pronunciation, some very serious, 
were much noticed ; such for example as the addition of the letter 
/ to the third person singular in the future tense, and of an s to 
the first person.* This fault was especially perceptible in the last 
sentence of the speech. 

Five days after this sitting, Champagny, Minister of the Interior, 
accompanied by Lacu6e and Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, 
Councillors of State, conveyed to the Legislative Body, at its sit- 
ting of the loth Nivose (Dec. 31), the Statement of the situation 0/ 
the Empire. \ After receiving this communication, the Legislative 
Body, sitting in Private Committee, unanimously adopted the ad- 
dress drawn up by President Fontanes, in reply to the speech from 



* As, for instance, Je serais, and it sera-t. 

f Such are the terms employed in the Imperial Decree appointing the 
orators who were to make the communication. The word republic had 
disappeared. 



"SIRE, YOUR FAITHFUL SUBJECTS.' 367 

the Throne. The Tribunate, in like manner, had in a private sit- 
ting on the Sth.Nivose, approved an address on the same subject, 
drawn up by a committee appointed for the purpose. 

The two addresses were presented at the Tuileries by the whole 
of the members of both bodies. They were received by the Em- 
peror on the throne, in presence of the Grand Dignitaries and Great 
Officers of the Empire, the Senate, and the Council of State, ex- 
traordinarily convoked. Fontanes was speaker, and the address 
which he read aloud began with these words : ' ' Sire, Your faith- 
ful Subjects, the members of the Legislative Body, ' ' etc. At this 
unexpected exordium, the greatest astonishment was expressed on 
every countenance, even on those of the Members of the Legisla- 
tive Body, who seemed no less surprised than the other persons 
present. 

The Tribunate, in a body, were next introduced, and Fabre (de 
FAude), the President, read their address ; but Fontanes' formula 
was not adopted. The Emperor, who had replied very graciously 
to the address of the Legislative Body, seemed displeased at that 
presented by the Tribunate. He answered with coldness and con- 
straint. The two bodies withdrew, and the sitting ended rather 
abruptly. On the following day, the 13th Nivose, every one was 
taken by surprise at seeing the two addresses appear in the 
* Moniteur, ' each with the same formula, * * Your faithful Sub- 
jects ; ' although it was notorious to all connected with the highest 
authorities of France that they had been differently expressed. It 
was impossible to lie with greater audacity. 

The following is the explanation. Fontanes had carefully 
avoided letting the Legislative Body know the formula which he 
intended to employ, so as to avoid a discussion, which, even had 
he succeeded in carrying his point, would have been unpleasant 
and embarrassing. The Legislative Body was therefore not aware 
that those words were about to be used ; and, on their return from 
the audience, loaded their faithless President with reproaches, a 
great number of the members complaining bitterly of the thing in 
itself as well as of the surreptitious way in which it had been done. 
Fontanes, finding himself in an awkward predicament, waited on 
the Emperor in the evening, and pointed out to him that he was in 
an extremely difficult position with the body over which he pre- 
sided, now that it was known that the expressions he had used did 
not occur in the address from the Tribunate, that he would now be 
still more heavily condemned, and considered guilty of a breach of 
confidence. The Emperor, who had already felt that the difference 
between the two branches of the Legislature was inimical to his 
views,, settled the question with a single word. Maret was ordered 
to send for Fabre (de T Aude), and to signify to him the Emperor's 



368 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

will that the terms made use of by Fontanes should also appear in 
the address from the Tribunate which would be published on the 
following day. F'abre, who was daily expecting his nomination 
to the Senate, made no objection, and when they awoke the next 
morning the Tribunes learned through the columns of the * Mon- 
iteur' that on the preceding day they had declared themselves the 
*' faithful Subjects of the Emperor.'' The Tribunate, whose exist- 
ence became more and more precarious, and whose members had 
nothing to hope for in the ruin with which they were threatened, 
save the favour of the Emperor, endured the affront in silence. 
But the Legislative Body show^ed some displeasure, and endeav- 
oured to preserve its honour by inserting in the report of its sit- 
tings, which contains the address, an explanatory note stating that 
the phraseology employed was that made use of by the House of 
Commons. But the note did not specify to what nation that 
House of Commons belonged, nor by what right it ruled the action 
of the representative assembly of the French nation. The Em- 
peror laughed at the sop administered to itself by the Legislative 
Body ; and he was right. He had obtained from it all he wanted. 
Where force or skilfully managed circumstance had failed, clever 
trickery had succeeded. He possessed his people, his subjects, his 
armies, his ships ; every vestige of Republican Government had 
disappeared both in matter and form. The counter-revolution was 
complete ; he had restored absolute monarchy with all its accesso- 
ries. All this was not destined to be of long endurance. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Emperor again offers the crown of Lombardy to Prince Joseph, who 
refuses it — He wishes to bestow it on the son of Prince Louis, but the 
latter also declines Napoleon's proposal — In consequence of this refu- 
sal, the Emperor destines Eugene Beauharnais to the throne of Italy, 
and raises him, as well as General Murat, to princely rank — Hostile 
attitude of the Northern Powers — The Emperor explains at the Coun- 
cil of State the real object of the preparations for a descent on Eng- 
land—He addresses a letter on behalf of peace to the King of England, 
but without effect — Napoleon contrives that a deputation from the Ital- 
ian Republic, converted into a Monarchy, shall offer him the crown of 
Italy, which he accepts — The Pope leaves Paris to return to Rome — 
The Emperor, after a reconciliation with his brother Joseph, proceeds 
to Milan, to be crowned King of Italy, and appoints Prince Eugene his 
viceroy — Joseph returns to the Boulogne camp — The Author proceeds 
to Belgium on a special mission from the Government— Prosperity and 
good dispositions of the inhabitants — Public works for the establish- 
ment of a military port at Antwerp — Annexation of the Ligurian Re- 
public to France — Return -of the Emperor from Milan — The continu- 
ance of peace on the Continent becomes more and more doubtful — 
The combined squadrons of France and Spain are obliged, after a dis- 
astrous engagement, to take refuge at Corunna — The Emperor hastens 
the preparations for the embarkation of the troops at Boulogne — The 
Viennese Cabinet despatches its armies to Bavaria, and sends an ulti- 
matum to Paris — War is decided on, and the troops assembled at Bou- 
logne are ordered to the Rhine — Restoration of the Greek Calendar — 
The Emperor's allocution at the State Council — Provisions for regu- 
lating the powers of the Government during the Emperor's absence — 
After having presided at a State Sitting of the Senate, Napoleon sets 
out to join the army. 

The coronation fetes and the solemn opening of the Legislative 
Body were scarcely over, when the Emperor, still bent on his 
former plans, again brought forward the offer of the crown of 
Lombardy to Prince Joseph. His principal motive for insisting 
on this was his desire to remove from the Imperial succession the 
brother who had been called to it by the Senatus-Consultum of the 
28th Floreal, and thus to concentrate the succession in the family of 
Prince Louis, and consequently in the person of the son of the 
latter. This plan he had formed long before, and he renounced 
it only on the death of the child. 

The first approach to the subject had been, as the reader is 
aware, coldly received by Prince Joseph. The act of renunciation 



370 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to the right of succession, on which the Emperor insisted, was the 
condition most repugnant to the Prince, and he refused to consent 
to it. At length, after a discussion of considerable length, M. 
de Talleyrand, who had undertaken the negotiation, drew up the 
bases of the agreement, as a kind of ultimatum, in a series of arti- 
cles, as follows : 

1. Napoleon, Emperor of the French, is King of Lombardy. 

2. He makes over his rights to the crown in their fullest extent 
to his brother Joseph as a French Prince and Grand Elector of the 
Empire. 

3. The crown of Lombardy is hereditary among the legitimate 
descendants of Joseph Bonaparte. 

4. If Prince Joseph should die without male children the throne 
of Lombardy is again at the disposal of the Emperor. 

5. Should the Prince's death occur after that of the Emperor, 
and that one of the latter' s sons or adopted sons should be on the 
throne of France, the crown of Lombardy reverts to Prince Louis. 

6. If, during the lifetime of the Emperor, Prince Joseph dies, 
leaving a son, still a minor, the Emperor is President of the Coun- 
cil of Regency, which consists of the Great Dignitaries of Lom- 
bardy. 

7. The crowns of Lombardy and of France can in no case be 
united on one head. Consequently Prince Joseph renounces for 
himself and for his children all right of succession to the Imperial 
Throne. 

The Emperor, however, in order not to deprive himself of the 
advantages conferred on him by the Senatus-Consultum of the 
23d Floreal, Year XII, , reserves to himself the power of adoption 
thereby secured to him. But it is understood that the succession to 
the throne- of France will only pass to the second branch of the 
family, to which it would naturally revert through the renunciation 
of Prince Joseph, in virtue of a special designation. Thus, should 
the Emf)eror die, leaving neither son nor adopted son, and without 
having made any special designation, he will be considered to have 
called Prince Joseph to succeed to the crown of France, in prefer- 
ence to Prince Louis, who will then assume the crown of Lom- 
bardy. 

This last Article, although it appeared to modify the effect of 
the renunciation required of him, especially attracted the attention 
of Prince Joseph. In fact, it contrived a new system of succession 
to the throne of France. The word designation implied a total 
change in the order established by the original Senatus-Consultum, 
and it did away with the hereditary principle in the usual accepta- 



Joseph's refusal. 371 

tion of the word. According to that principle, Prince Louis suc- 
ceeded immediately to the rights of Prince Joseph, on their renun- 
ciation by the latter. Here, on the contrary, Louis' s rights were 
made contingent only, and depended on the will of the Emperor, 
who reserved to himself the choice of designating or not designat- 
ing him. And what was still more extraordinary, this power of 
designation introduced into the legislation was unlimited, and 
there was nothing to prevent the Emperor exercising it in favour 
of an individual belonging to another family. Lastly, this pro- 
vision appeared to confer the succession on the family of the desig- 
nated successor ; so that if Prince Louis were designated, it 
would have the same effect as the adoption of his children, 
although minors, since on his death his rights would descend to 
them to the exclusion of Prince Joseph. 

Talleyrand, who had communicated the Articles of the Agree- 
ment to Joseph on the morning of the 26th Nivose, Year XIIL 
(Jan. 16, 1805), returned on the evening of the same day to 
receive his answer. It was evasive, and the Prince deferred a posi- 
tive reply to a later day. He employed the interval in consulting 
his friends, all of whom advised him to accept them. *' In the 
natural course," we said to him, '' the Emperor would survive 
you. You have no male heir, and your brother having none 
either, nor the possibility of any, by the Empress, you may be 
sure that sooner or later he will put her away in order to obtain a 
direct heir, or at least that he will make use of the power conferred 
on him by the Senatus-Consultum to adopt the son of Prince 
Louis. Your right to the throne of France, and your hope of 
ascending it at a future day are, therefore, imaginary rather than 
real ; and one contingency, that of the premature death of the 
Emperor, which could alone give them some consistency, is too 
unlikely an event to be allowed to outweigh the advantages which 
are now offered to you. By accepting them, you reign over a 
beautiful country, whose language you speak, and where you 
would have many opportunities of doing good. Your destiny 
would thus be fixed, and a brilliant and stable future would open 
before you. " 

These counsels made no impression on Prince Joseph. He re- 
garded the renunciation required of him as a kind of cowardice ; 
and therefore flatly refused his consent, being resolved to remain 
in France. His decision was communicated to the Emperor on 
the 7th Pluviose (Jan. 27). He was greatly displeased, and 
thought of bestowing the crown of Lombardy on the eldest son of 
Prince Louis, entrusting the government of the country to the lat- 
ter during his son's minority, who meanwhile would continue to 
reside in Paris. But the Prince, on hearing the proposition. 



372 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

altogether rejected it "So long as I live," said he to the Em- 
peror, " I will neither consent to the adoption of my son, before 
he has attained the age fixed by the Senatus-Consultum, nor to 
any plan for placing him, to my prejudice, on the throne of Lom- 
bardy. So marked a preference would revive the rumours former- 
ly circulated concerning the child. I am willing, if you desire it, 
to go to Italy, but on condition that my wife and children accom- 
pany me thither," 

This fresh refusal, and the tone in which it was made and per- 
sisted in, enraged the Emperor to the highest degree. He seized 
Prince Louis by the body, and flung him violently out of the 
room. 

Thus thwarted by his own family on the two sides, the Emperor 
began to turn his thoughts and affections towards young Beauhar- 
nais. He raised him to the rank of Prince, and intended to 
place him on the throne of Lombardy, and to unite him in mar- 
riage with the Queen of Etruria, recently left a widow by the In- 
fante of Spain, who, two years previously, had been placed on the 
throne of Tuscany. * He conferred, in like manner, the title of 
Prince on General Murat, and bestowed the vacant Grand Digni- 
ties of Arch-chancellor of State on Prince Eugene and that of 
Grand Admiral on Prince Murat. The honours conferred on the 
new-made Princes were resented by the Emperor's two brothers as 
personal injuries ; but they had no right to complain ; all this 
was a natural consequence of their refusal to co-operate in Napo- 
leon's designs. Thus grievances were multiplied on either side ; 
family disunion increased, and the extraordinary favours of fortune 
had neither satisfied personal ambition nor brought peace and 
concord. From the very beginning there had been unexpected 
opposition, and unexpected claims, and germs of enmity were 
now expanding in the very hearts that Napoleon believed he had 
won to himself by splendid gifts, well deserving of gratitude in 
return. 

While family troubles were casting these gloomy shadows on 
the success that had hitherto attended on all the Emperor's under- 
takings, the state of foreign affairs was daily assuming an aspect 
more threatening to the continuance of peace on the Continent. 
Austria, Russia, and even Prussia, were becoming more and more 
inimical. But, far from being alarmed, the Emperor, as I have 
already said, ardently desired a rupture ; for it would again assign 
to him that stage whereon victory had so gloriously distinguished 
the French troops under his command, and it would also afford 

* This plan was altered in part, Prince Eugene was made viceroy only, 
and married a Bavarian princess. 



THE INVASION. 373 



him a legitimate excuse for giving up the hazardous expedition to 
England, the difficulties of which seemed to increase as the time 
for putting it into execution drew near. He explained the situa- 
tion with considerable clearness at a sitting of the State Council in 
which the Finance laws were being discussed, and over which he 
presided on the 28th Nivose (Jan. 17). Speaking on the subject 
of the resources of France, he expressed himself as follows. * ' For 
two years past, France has made the greatest sacrifices that can be 
demanded of her, and has not flinched under the trial. A general 
Continental war would involve nothing further. My army is the 
strongest, and my military organisation is the most complete. 
Moreover, I am already in the very situation in which I should 
have to place myself if war were to break out on the Continent. 
But in order, during a time of peace, to assemble so many troops, 
in order to have twenty thousand artillery horses, and a complete 
equipment, a pretext had to be found for raising them and bring- 
ing them together without alarming the Continental powers ; and 
that pretext was afforded me by the intended descent on Eng- 
land. I am quite aware that to keep all those artillery horses 
during a time of peace is to throw thirty millions into the sea ; 
but it has given me full twenty days in advance over all my ene- 
mies, and I shall have begun the campaign a month before Aus- 
tria has bought horses for her guns. If I see that the events tak- 
ing place in Italy* cause any movement in Austria, I shall declare 
war on her so soon as she begins her purchases. 

* * I could not have told you this two years ago, and yet it was 
my sole aim. You know it now, and you have the explanation 
of many things. But there will be no war, and I have just begun 
direct negotiations with the King of England in the interests of 
peace. ' ' 

Whether the Emperor had in reality prepared for an expedition 
against England with the sole design of concealing his military 
preparations from the Continental powers, or whether he had given 
it upon perceiving the extreme difficulty of the undertaking, the 
fact remains that for a long time past all his measures for a war on 
land had been taken. Those powers who attacked him shortly 
afterwards, far from finding him at fault, by reason of his armies 
being massed on the channel coasts, were, on the contrary, them- 
selves taken by surprise, by the skilful tactics the secret of which 
he partly revealed to us at the sitting of the Council of State to 
which I now refer. 

But the more he desired war the more it was his interest to per- 
suade the world that he wished for peace, and his motive in mak- 

* He alludes to the intended formation of the kingdom of Lombardy. 



374 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ing overtures to the King of England, to whom he had written 
personally,* was to prove that if he found himself involved in a 
new war he had done all in his power to avoid it. So soon, 
therefore, as England's reply rejecting this overture,! reached 
Paris, the Emperor hastened to communicate both documents to 
the Senate, the Legislative Body and the Tribunate. Those 
bodies immediately replied by obsequious addresses, which had 
been preceded by speeches no less servile at the sitting of the Trib- 
unate. The addresses were presented to the Emperor on the 
2ist Pluviose. He received them seated on his throne, and sur- 
rounded by the great officers of the Empire and of the Household, 
by the Senate and the Council of State. The President of the 
Tribunate, Fabre (de I'Aude), had no hesitation this time in speak- 
ing in the name of the faithftd subjects^ Members of the Tribunate, 
and even put the epithet in the superlative, the mostfaithful sub- 
jects. On this occasion the speeches were inserted without altera- 
tion in the * Moniteur ' on the following day. A change was, 
however, made in the Emperor's reply to the deputation from the 
Legislative Body. He had made use of the expression, the philan- 
thropic and liberal ideas, which, according to him, should be char- 
acteristic of the present century. But as he was in the habit of 
sneering at men of liberal ideas, he did not want to appear to have 
contradicted himself, and in the * Moniteur, ' next day, instead of 
philanthropic and liberal ideas, he was made to say philanthropic 
and generous ideas. 

Notwithstanding the clouds daily gathering on the political hori- 
zon, war was not so imminent as to prevent the Emperor from 
carr}4ng out his plans in Italy. One grievance less inflicted upon 
Austria and the other Continental Powers would not have prevent- 
ed war, and so he felt no scruple in doing them a fresh wrong. 
Moreover, he did not shrink from multiplying pretexts for a rup- 
ture which had now become necessar}' to him, and he reckoned 
on victory to absolve him from all his misdeeds and to justify all 
his ambition. His brothers' refusal having left him free to dis- 
pose as he would of Lombardy and his other conquests in Italy, he 
finally resolved to place the crown he had offered them on his own 
head. But he wished that crown to be offered to him by the na- 
tion. He therefore summoned to Paris a deputation chosen 
from among the principal citizens of Lombardy, which, under the 
name of Consultum, was supposed to be empowered to revise the 

* The letter in question, dated I2th Nivose (Jan. 2), appeared in the 
' Moniteur' of i6th Pluviose, Year XIII. 

f The King of England did not reply directly, but he commanded Lord 
Mulgrave to write to M. de Talleyrand. The letter is dated January i, 

1S05. 



THE POPE. 375 



constitution of the Italian Republic, but whose principal business 
was in reality to change that form of Government, and institute 
for it a monarchy. When this assembly had concluded their 
labours, they laid the result before the Emperor at a State- Audience 
on 26th Ventose (March 17}. The Council of State was present. 
All the ceremonial of State was displayed. The Emperor, who 
seemed to delight in providing opportunities for the display of his 
sovereign attributes, was seated on the throne, with covered head, 
when the Consultum was introduced. M. de Melzi was the 
Speaker, and submitted to the Emperor the deliberations of the 
assembly over which he presided. The following were the reso- 
lutions. The Italian Republic to be changed into a Monarchy, 
under the name of Kingdom of Italy ;* the Emperor and his male 
heirs to be called to the throne, with the single restriction that for 
the future the two crowns of France and Italy should never be 
united on one head. The sole exception was in the case of the 
Emperor, and for this occasion only. 

The Emperor accepted the offer, spoke of his affection for his 
people of Italy, and promised to go to Milan for his coronation. 
On the following day he went to the Senate to announce in person 
his new dignity, and thenceforth he assumed the title of Emperor 
and King, 

But, before he could set out for Italy, it was necessary to send 
the Pope back to Rome. The Holy Father was prolonging his 
stay in France, in hopes of obtaining the advantages that had been 
held out to him as the price of his compliance. He asked that 
the legations of Ferrara, Bologna and Rimini should be restored 
to the Holy See, that the custody of the Civil State Registers 
should again be confided to the clergy, and lastly, that the Repub- 
lican Calendar should be suppressed, and the Gregorian Calendar 
restored. The Emperor agreed to the last of these requests only, 
and because it suited his purpose, quite as much as the Pope's, to 
abolish everything that could recall the Republican r6gime. How- 
ever, the Holy Father departed before this change was effected, 
and it was not carried out until a few months later. 

Pius VII., disappointed in his hopes and expecting nothing 
from a more prolonged stay, determined to return to Rome. He 
went to see the Emperor at St. Cloud for the last time on the 9th 
Germinal (March 10). The Council of State had assembled be- 
fore he arrived. He crossed the hall, entered the Emperor's cabi- 
net, remained with him for ten minutes, and then came out again 
with displeasure visible in his countenance. A few days afterwards 

* The title of King of Lombardy, against which Austria had protested, 
was thus avoided. 



376 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

(14 Genninal) he left Paris. It was said that an effort had been 
made to induce him to pause at Milan, and be present at the cere- 
mony of the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy ; but he re- 
fused this fresh condescension, and it was not insisted on. 

The Emperor, being free from all anxiety with respect to the 
interior of France, left Paris on the 31st of March (10 Germinal) 
on his way to Italy, after having asked and obtained a Senatus- 
Consultum for a levy of twenty thousand men on the reser\es. 
The task of carrying this out devolved on Cambaceres. Prince 
Joseph accompanied the Emperor to Fontainebleau, and before 
they parted a sort of reconciliation took place between the two 
brothers. They had a long conversation, in the course of which 
the Emperor complained, as usual, of the small share which the 
Prince took in affairs, and of his constant opposition to the policy 
which had been adopted. Nevertheless, he did him justice on 
some points, and treated him with kindness. He directed him to 
return to his regiment at the Boulogne camp to continue to learn 
the duties of a colonel ; so that, having studied them for a month, 
he might make a circuit on the Northern and Rhenish frontiers, 
accompanied by officers of the Engineers and of Artillery, in order 
to inspect our principal fortresses and thus to acquire the military 
knowledge in which he was deficient. They parted on tolerably 
good terms. Prince Joseph returned to Paris, and, after a few 
days' stay at Morfontaine, proceeded to Boulogne, from which 
place he afterwards started on an excursion to the frontier, in com- 
pliance with a suggestion that had been made to him. 

The Emperor continued his journey to Milan, where he re- 
ceived the crown, and made the Empress's son, Eugene Beauhar- 
nais, Viceroy of Italy, under the name of Prince Eugene Napo- 
leon. 

During the absence of the Emperor and of Prince Joseph, I was 
entrusted by the Government with a special mission to Belgium, 
which formed part of the General Police district under my admin- 
istration. I left Paris therefore on the 20th Floreal (^lay 19), 
and proceeded to Antwerp, where I made a stay of several days. 
M. d' Herbonville was discharging the duties of Prefect in that 
town, and I took counsel with him as to the means of putting a 
stop to smuggling, which had greatly increased on the borders of 
the departments which were contiguous to Holland. But my 
mission was not a successful one : the Custom-house officers made 
too great a profit on the sale of the confiscated goods, and by the 
gratuities that they obtained on each seizure, to be really desirous 
of putting an end to smuggling, by which they would have been 
reduced to living on their salaries only. Moreover, as the confis- 
cated goods were repurchased by the very persons from whom 



ANTWERP. 377 



they had been taken, these latter had only to set the chances of 
success against those of failure in getting their goods, and then to 
calculate their expenditure in repurchasing, which could always be 
effected at a cost far below the real value, and lastly to fix the sum 
to which the price of the smuggled goods was to be raised, in 
order to sell them in the interior at a profit. As, notwithstanding 
this augmentation in cost, smuggled merchandise always com- 
manded a good sale, there remained sufficient profit to attract 
many speculators to this lucrative business. My journey was, 
therefore, a failure as regards the ends for which I had undertaken 
it ; but it was very useful to myself, as it afforded me an opportu- 
nity of closely examining the state of those fine provinces since 
the union with France. I found them quite settled, and their in- 
dustrious inhabitants well disposed in favour of the Government, 
to which they daily became more attached. They were obedient 
by habit, and felt no regret for their former masters, whom they 
had never seen, and to procure whose return they would not have 
made the smallest sacrifice. They endured taxation willingly, and 
the excise duties, the heaviest of all, had easily been enforced in a 
country long accustomed to defray the heaviest part of the public 
expenses by indirect taxation. The conscription was the only 
serious grievance, because it clashed with former habits and with 
national prejudice. As the Austrian Government had never re- 
cruited, save among the dregs of the people, a soldier was an ob- 
ject of contempt in Belgium, and among no class of society could ' 
any be found willing to enter a profession so degraded in public 
estimation. The wealthy and influential inhabitants of these fine 
provinces were, however, daily returning to them. They were be- 
ginning to have faith in the stability of the new order of things, 
and having, through the help of the Government, recovered their 
property and their wealth, they vere sincerely desirous of the con- 
tinuance of a system under which they might exist in peace. 
Lastly, the union of Belgium to France having overthrown the 
barrier of Customs, which until then had interfered with the export 
of the products of her industry to France, a new and vast market 
had been opened to her and a stimulus given to her manufactures 
such as they never had during the domination of the House of 
Austria. In addition to these commercial advantages, which con- 
tributed so powerfully to the lasting union of the two peoples, the 
immense works in progress at Antwerp led the Belgians to hope 
that the former splendour of that port, so famous in the annals of 
their country, would one day be restored, and revived their recol- 
lections of the glory and prosperity associated with its name. 

My curiosity being greatly excited, I took advantage of the facili- 
ties afforded by my mission to inspect the works in progress for 



3/8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the establishment of a miHtary port at Antwerp. I was accompa- 
nied by M. INIalouet, the naval Prefect of that ancient city. 

On the spot where eighteen months previously there had existed 
nothing but a block of buildings belonging to an old convent, and 
a rampart, there were now to be seen dogks, partly-built vessels, 
immense store-houses, workshops for rope-making and carpenter- 
ing ; in short, a naval arsenal. At the time of my visit there were 
eight men of war, a frigate, and a brig in process of construction.* 
Timber from the forest of Soignes was used for the shipbuilding ; 
but, as it was still green, it was calculated that the hulls of the 
vessels would have to dr)' for at least eighteen months before the 
planking could be laid down, and that consequently it would be 
impossible to launch them for a couple of years. 

But, after admiring all that was striking and extraordinary in the 
imdertaking, and the strength of will of him who had set it in 
motion, I could not refrain from reflecting on the objections that 
it presented. In the first place, it seemed to me that to establish 
a military and a commercial port on the same spot, was to ensure 
the destruction of the one by the other. Antwerp had always been 
a great commercial city ; and a military marine station, if it had 
been successfully established there, would have imperceptibly de- 
stroyed the true source of the greatness and wealth of the place. 
Then again, granting that nothing was more likely to alarm the 
English than French squadrons in the Scheldt, and that policy 
dictated that great enterprise, still Antwerp did not seem to me the 
most favourable locality for the purpose. The river is difficult of 
descent for large ships, and great difficulty was expected in getting 
the ships then on the stocks down the Scheldt. 

Moreover, their guns and part of their rigging must have been 
shipped -either at Flushing, or at a port that had yet to be made at 
the mouth of the river. Once down the Scheldt, the vessels could 
not possibly return to Antwerp, even were they disarmed for the 
purpose, and in the winter they could not enter the river on ac- 
count of the ice. So that in a military-naval sense, Antwerp could 
never be more than a dockyard, and in no case a port for equip- 
ment or refitting. I came to the conclusion that it would have 
been far better to have made the expenditure at Ter Neef, on the 
left bank of the Scheldt, opposite Flushing, rather than at Antwerp. 
But it was an appeal to the popular imagination to restore the 
ancient name of Antwerp and once more to make it formidable. 

I left Antwerp on the 9th Prairial (May 29), on my return to 

* The following is a list of the names that had been given to these 
vessels : le Charlemagne , le Commerce de Lyon, V Anvcrsois, le Th/se'e, PJl- 
lustre, le Char, le Duguesclin and F Audacietix, vessels of seventy-four ; 
la Caroline, frigate of iforty-six, and le Favori, brig of sixteen guns. 



THE emperor's ARROGANCE. 379 

Paris, passing through Louvain, Maestricht, Aix-la-Chapelle, Ver- 
viers, Liege, Brussels and Ghent. I travelled very slowly, fre- 
quently stopping to inspect the manufactories and public establish- 
ments, and was more and rnore pleased with the prosperity that I 
beheld on every side. The cloth factories of Verviers especially 
had developed wonderfully : they had never had so much work in 
hand, nor so many markets in which to dispose of it. Verviers 
had reaped more advantage than any other town from the union of 
France with Belgium, and the provinces situated on the left bank 
of the Rhine. 

I reached Paris on the 20th Prairial (June 9). The Emperor 
was still at Milan, where he was receiving the homage of his new 
Italian subjects. I heard little concerning his journey, as there 
was no one in his suite to whom I could apply for information. 
The writings of the time give full particulars of Napoleon's coro- 
nation as King of Italy and the organization of the kingdom. He 
confided the administration, as I have said before, to Prince 
Eugene Beauharnais, with the title of Viceroy. For chief adviser, 
he gave him M. de Melzi, of whom I have already spoken, and on 
whom, two years later, he conferred the title of Duke of Lodi. It 
would have been impossible to have made a better choice. During 
the Emperor' s stay in Italy, the union of France and the Ligurian 
Republic (the town and territory of Genoa) took place. That brill- 
iant annexation added another grievance to the long list of those 
that the Continental powers cherished against us, and was one of 
the alleged motives for their rupture with us. In this operation 
the Emperor was greatly helped by Salicetti, the French Ambas- 
sador at Genoa, who had prepared the way beforehand by per- 
suasion and bribery. 

Napoleon left Milan on his way back to France, laden with 
honours, surfeited with flattery, having destroyed an ancient re- 
public, the only one still existing in Italy, and annexed it to his 
Empire. On the 29th Messidor (July 15) he arrived at Fontaine- 
bleau, where the chief authorities hastened to present themselves 
with congratulations on his return. I was there with the Council 
of State, and it seemed to me that his manner was colder than 
ever. The forms required by etiquette were still more severe than 
before ; there was a general feeling of constraint and embarrass- 
ment, and distinctions of rank were more marked than hitherto. 
No graciousness, no kindliness tempered the austere demeanour 
of the Emperor, so greatly did he seem to fear that the slightest 
sign of affability might recall the past days of Equality. 

Towards the beginning of Thermidor he at length returned to 
Paris, where his presence had become necessary. The arrival of 
a negotiator in the capital was daily expected. M. Novosiltzof had 



38o MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

been appointed by the Emperor of Russia to reply to the over- ^ 
tures of peace that Napoleon had addressed to the King of Eng- 
land, and to take part in the negotiations which as the result of 
those overtures would be likely to be held in Paris. But M. 
Novosiltzof came no farther than Berlin ; he returned the passports 
that had been forwarded to him, through' the medium of Prussia, 
and took his way back. The note which he addressed on the 
loth of July, 1805, to Prince Hardenberg, at that time the Cabi- 
net Minister at Berlin, explained Russia's reasons for declining to 
treat with France, and founded them especially upon the annex- 
ations the Emperor had just made in Italy. The French pass- i 
ports were enclosed with this note. Prince Hardenberg forwarded 
them on the following day to M. de Laforest, the French Minister 
at Berlin, accompanied by a note in which he approved the con- 
duct of Russia, and alluded with displeasure to the union of the 
Genoese Republic to France as an unexpected event by which the 
tranquillity of the Continent was once more endangered. Thus 
every hope of the continuance of peace imperceptibly faded away. ' 
Meanwhile, at the very moment that war seemed on the point of I 
breaking out in the north of Europe, the armaments at Boulogne ' 
went on with redoubled activity. The combined squadrons of 
France and Spain* were to arrive in the Channel in order to pro- 
tect the expedition, and from day to day they were expected to 
come in sight — in vain. The squadrons were encountered on 
the 2 2d of July by Admiral Calder, who forced them to fight, and . 
to run in at Corunna with the loss of two Spanish ships, the San- ■ 
Raphael, 84 guns, and the Finne, 74 guns. The Emperor, who, 
the better to disguise his real projects, had gone to Boulogne, was ; 
there when this news reached him, and, notwithstanding that every 
endeavour was made to represent the engagement as a drawn , 
battle, no one could doubt that the hopes entertained of assistance- 
from the Spanish squadron at the time of the passage of the flotilla; 
were delusive. It was evident that we should have to rely entirely ' 
on our own resources at Boulogne if a descent on England were: 
to be attempted. Nevertheless, although it was evident that since: 
all help from the Spanish squadron must be given up, and since- 
we were on the eve of a Continental war, the expedition could not: 
be attempted without utter foolhardiness, the preparations for the • 
embarkation were carried on under the Emperor's eyes, more vigor- 
ously than ever. The troops were assigned to the different trans- 
ports long ready for their reception, and each man received his or- 
ders. On the 3d Fructidor (Aug. 21) the troops marched on board 1 

* Spain had been at war with England since 1802, when England had I 
seized on four Spanish frigates without a previous declaration of war. 



I 



GENERAL ACTIVITY. 38 1 



o beat of drum, at the same time it was announced that a fleet of 
wenty-eight men-oi-war had been signalled in the Channel, and it 
vas supposed that these were the French and Spanish squadrons 
rom Corunna. It was consequently believed for a moment in 
Paris that the expedition was about to take place, and all the alarm 
3reviously felt at that hazardous undertaking was revived, and 
general consternation ensued. But the mask was soon thrown 
iside, and it was seen that the Emperor' s apparent activity in carry- 
ng out a design he had already given up was but a feint to increase 
he false security of the Continental powers, and to force on them 

I some decisive step, which would give him an opportunity for 
iction. 
He had not to wait long, Austria's military preparations and 
the advance of her troops into Bavaria dispelled all doubt as to her 
intentions. Finally a kind of ultimatum was despatched from 
Vienna, and reached Paris on the loth Fructidor (Aug. 28).* M. 
de Talleyrand started immediately for Boulogne, and from that 
Itnoment the long-wished-for war was resolved on. Without an 
instant's delay, all the troops forming the camp at Boulogne and 
stationed along the coast were in the field, and advancing by forced 
marches towards the Rhine. Never was there so rapid or so skilful 
a change of front : Austria had scarcely received the reply to her 
ultimatum when she learned that the formidable armies, from 
whom, by reason of the immense distance between them, she had 
believed there was nothing to fear, would reach the Rhine before 
herself. 

The Emperor, after having ordered the march of his troops, and 
staying to see it begun, returned to St. Cloud on the i6th Fructi- 
dor (Sept. 5). He held a diplomatic reception on the following 
Sunday, and as there was, as yet, no declaration of war, the Aus- 
trian Ambassador was present. The Emperor talked to him, as 
usual, but only about pictures or indifferent subjects, without let- 
ting anything appear which could give rise to a suspicion of the 
state of relations between France and Austria. 

Meanwhile the greatest activity prevailed in all the Ministerial 
departments, and sittings of the Councils of State, of Administra- 
tion, and of Finance, followed one on the other. In one of the 
sittings of the Council of State, the abolition of the Republican 
Calendar was proposed and carried, notwithstanding the opposition 
of some members. Among these. Councillor Real spoke warmly 

* I did not see the document in question ; but I was informed that it 
contained a special provision that the Italian kingdom should be given 
up, that the Ligurian Republic should be restored to independence, and 
that Malta should be ceded to the English. The Emperor was in a posi- 
tion peremptorily to decline these proposals. 



i 



382 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

in favour of maintaining that Calendar, and there were certainly 
good reasons to adduce in support of his argument. I even think, 
that had the commencement of the year been fixed by the Repub-j 
lican Calendar at the beginning of the Winter Solstice, instead of 
the Autumn Equinox, there would have been a great advantage in 
retaining the decennial division of the year, and that with this 
alteration, it would have been more in accordance with the celes- 
tial phenomena than any other calculation. But the question was 
not how to reform or improve the Republican Calendar ; no argu- 
ment on the point would have been admitted. It must either be 
retained, just as it was, or entirely abolished ; and such being the 
alternative, the promise made to the Pope, and the leaning in 
favour of ancient forms, which was the fashion of the day, left no 
doubt as to the decision. Abolition was therefore resolved on, 
and the restoration of the Gregorian Calendar was fixed for Jan- 
uary I, 1806. Regnault de St. Jean d' Angely was ordered to lay 
before the Senate a form of Senatus-Consultum prescribing the 
change, and M. Laplace, who as a celebrated geometrician and 
astronomer had, in the time of the Convention, commended the 
Republican Calendar, and praised it in many of his works, now 
that he was a Senator, made his report (still in the capacity of a 
learned mathematician) on the new Governmental proposition, and 
was in favour of adopting it. ^ sempre bene, as the Neapolitan 
lawyers say. 

Finally, all the resources of the State having been put in action, 
and the time of the Emperor's departure drawing near, he sum- 
moned the Council of State to St. Cloud, on the 30th Fructidor 
(Sept. 17), to make known his last commands, and, at this 
memorable sitting, all the members being present, after dismissing 
the Auditors and the ushers, he addressed us in the following 
words : 

** The weighty communications which I have to make to my 
Council of State are my reasons for excluding the younger men 
and the ushers to-day. I hope I shall not see an account of our 
proceedings here in the newspapers to-morrow ; should that be 
the case, I could in future only treat of the current affairs of the 
day at the Council ; I could not venture again to speak of the 
great interests of the State. I rely, therefore, on the discretion 
of all present. 

*' Austria is arming against us without a previous declaration 
of war. Her troops are marching on Bavaria ; she has taken the 
German princes, our allies, unawares. She who owes her exist- 
ence to my moderation, she whom I have twice driven from 
Vienna and from all her States, dares, at the present time, to dic- 
tate conditions to me : she intends that I shall submit to all those 



FOOD FOR POWDER. 383 

that it may please England to impose on me, and she does not 
even tell me what they are. Such insolence, such ingratitude and 
deceit have awakened the resentment of all the Princes of Ger- 
many : they are quivering with indignation. I will avenge them, 
and avenge at the same time my own honour and the honour of 
France. My armies are marching towards the Rhine. They will 
soon have crossed it, and, with me at their head, will destroy the 
odious house of Austria that I ought never to have spared. I will 
reduce her to the rank of a secondary power. My allies shall see 
that they were right to trust in me, and that my protection is not 
a vain thing. I will raise Bavaria into a great state, interposed 
between Austria and myself, and I will sign a new peace in the 
palace of the Emperor of Germany. 

" But I must wait a few days yet ere I go before the Senate to 
make a declaration to the whole nation of the situation of affairs, 
of my feelings, and of my intentions. Until then my language 
will be pacific. Meanwhile, time presses, and as it is my duty to 
provide for the tranquillity of France while I am marching on, I 
wished to communicate to you the measures which I intended 
taking and to consult you upon their adoption. You can, there- 
fore, understand the necessity of secrecy respecting plans which 
are entirely in opposition with my outward conduct. It will only 
be necessary for a few days, and, I doubt not, will be faithfully 
observed. The Ministers of War and of the Interior will now lay 
before you the plans they have submitted to me." 

The two Ministers then read to us various reports containing 
propositions, of which the following is an abridgement. 

It was proposed to raise the Reserve of the Years X., XL, XII., 
and XIII.,* in forty-six departments, in order to complete those 
regiments remaining on the channel coasts : 

To bring into the field on the ist of January, 1806, the con- 
scription of Year XV., viz., those young men who would be 
twenty years of age on January ist, 1807. 

To establish a camp of mounted Velites. 

To send the Guards of Honour to join the Army. 

To re-organise the National Guard of the Empire. 

To offer to all retired sub-officers and soldiers advantages which 
should induce them to return to active service. 

Of all these proposals the most remarkable was that of the 
re-organisation of the National Guard. This new impulse given 
to the public spirit of the nation, this sudden formation of armed 

* These reserves, consisting of the surplus of the conscription not im- 
mediately wanted, remained in the provinces, liable to be called upon in 
case of urgent necessity. 



k 



384 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

clubs all over France, after the experience we had had of their 
influence during the course of the Revolution, deserved close 
consideration. But the Emperor carried us all with him by the 
force of his eloquence, and after a short discussion, he resumed : 

" I should be a fool if I asked for all these things for the pres- 
ent campaign. I have everything I want — stores, troops, horses, 
and artillery. My army is in splendid condition. It has marched 
all across France, without one single deserter. The troops have 
been made welcome everywhere : people have vied with each other 
in entertaining and feeding my soldiers. Nor has one of them 
given the slightest cause of complaint. * But, if for the present, I 
am at ease, if, for the moment, I have no wants, I must provide 
against those which -will be entailed by a war that may be pro- 
longed for two or three years. While I am at work at the other 
end of Germany the nation must be answerable to me for itself. 
It must garrison the strongholds, and protect the stores of the in- 
terior. It must, if necessar}^ repel an invasion, or an attempt of 
the enemy on our coasts. The former spirit of France must be 
revived. She must show Europe that she is one with her head, 
that she takes part in his designs and seconds them. I am only on 
the throne, because France willed it to be so. She elected me. 
I am of her making, and she must sustain me. If the shouts with 
which she has so often saluted me are not the basest flattery, if 
they are sincere, I can rely upon her, and too much publicity and 
solemnity cannot be given to the request I am about tc^ make of 
her. On the eve of my departure, therefore, I shall go to the 
Senate. I shall tell them of Austria's behaviour. I shall call on 
all the powers of the nation to assist me in the great enterprise of 
avenging the name of France. I shall kindle in every heart the 
love of glory and of honour. I shall then set out, and before the 
news of my doings in Paris has reached our enemies, I shall be in 
the midst of them and already their conqueror. If the French do 
not answer to my call, if they prefer obeying the Russians or the 
Austrians, let them bear the disgraceful yoke ! They are not what 
I took them for." 

After this vigorous and prophetic address from Napoleon, we 
turned to the preparation of the Scnatus-Consultum to be laid 
before the Senate at the sitting at which the Emperor proposed to 
be })resent. Two of those proceedings were contemplated — one 
to relate to the re-organisation of the National Guard, and the 
other to order the Guard of Honour to join the army. The Section 

* This vas literally true. The army, at that time, was as well disci- 
plined as it was brave. It was not so at a later period, and the system of 
warfare adopted by the Emperor, in subsequent campaigns, was ruinous 
to discipline. 



j HOME GOVERNMENT. 385 

1 of the Interior discussed these measures during the evening. The 
[others were referred to the Section of War. On the following day, 
the first complementary day of Year XIII. (Sept. 18, 1805), the 
Council of State was again assembled at St. Cloud under the pres- 
idency of the Emperor. The drafts drawn up by the Section of 
War and the Section of the Interior were read aloud. Those re- 
lating to the Conscription were carried without difficulty, but the 
others underwent some curious modifications. The one concern- 
ing the National Guard was restricted to allowing the Emperor to 
re-organise it in those departments only where he thought it desir- 
able to have recourse to that means of defence ; and, as the right 
of appointing officers was reserved to him, the institution was thus 
altered in its very essence. It could no longer be a source of dan- 
ger, or an obstacle to authority ; but, on the other hand, it was 
deprived of its special advantages and of its influence over the pub- 
lic. As for the Guard of Honour, it was agreed, after a discussion 
of some length, that there should be no decree on the subject ; but 
that the Minister of the Interior should merely send out a circular 
requesting them to join the army, where they would be placed 
under the command of Colonel de Segur. The secret purpose of 
this step was that emigres and former nobles might be introduced 
into this new corps, and that these gentlemen, after a few months' 
service, should enter the line as officers, should receive promotion, 
and after a time the command of regiments ; a favour which was 
displeasing to the whole army. This became evident at a later 
period. 

"With regard to the Government of the country during his ab- 
sence, the Emperor decreed that Prince Joseph should be President 
of the Senate, with power to convene that body whenever he 
thought fit ; that the Ministers should assemble at the Luxembourg, 
where he resided, once in every week, and that the Arch-chancellor 
should be present at those meetings, in which the Prince should 
refer questions which he did not think himself competent to decide 
either to the Council of State or to the Emperor himself ; and that 
also all the telegraphic correspondence should be laid before him. 
On any extraordinary occasion he was to summon the High Con- 
stable (Prince Louis) and the Arch-chancellor,* to confer with 
them on measures to be taken and afterwards to issue orders in hi^ 
own name. But Prince Joseph had no authority over the Public 
Exchequer. Neither had he any authority over the Police, and 
the bulletins on the state of Paris were delivered to the High Con- 
stable, as Military Chief, and sent by him to the Emperor. 

All these arrangements being definitively setded, the Emperor 

* Arch-treasurer Lebrun was then at Genoa. 



386 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

proceeded in State to the Senate on Monday, the istVendemiaire, 
Year XIV. (Sept. 23, 1805). M. de Talleyrand read a long re- 
port on the political relations between France and Austria since 
the peace of Luneville, and drew a vivid picture of our grievances 
against that Power, passing lightly over those which our acquisitions 
in Italy might have afforded her against us. The Senatus-Consul- 
tum drawn up on the preceding day at the Council of State, was 
then presented by Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely and Segur, and 
immediately carried. The Emperor concluded the sitting, which 
had lasted about three quarters of an hour, by a speech in which 
he declared that he had always ardently desired the continuance of 
peace ; and then rising, he returned to the Tuileries with the same 
ceremonies with which he had come. The next morning, the 2d 
Vendemiaire (Sept. 24), he set out to join the army. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Unpopularity of the war with the inhabitants of Paris — Embarrassment 
of the Bank of France and of the Public Exchequer — Declaration of 
War by Austria and Russia — The impression produced in France — 
Marvellous successes of the French Army — Defeat of the combined 
fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar — Battle of Austerlitz — Hopes 
of peace entertained by the Parisians in consequence of the arrival of 
Austrian Plenipotentiaries at Napoleon's head-quarters — Displeasure 
of the Emperor —The Presburg Treaty of Peace — The Emperor com- 
mands Prince Joseph to place himself at the head of a French army, 
and drive the King of Naples from his States, as he had broken his neu- 
trality in the recent war — The Emperor, on his way back from Vienna, 
stays at Munich to arrange a marriage between Prince Eugene and 
Princess Augusta of Bavaria — The author receives commands to join 
Prince Joseph at Naples — He has an audience to take leave of the Em- 
peror — He receives instructions from M. de Talleyrand — He leaves 
Paris — He sees Lucien Bonaparte at Rome and arrives at Naples a 
week later than Prince Joseph — Situation of affairs — Formation of a 
Ministry — Two letters from the Emperor — Gigantic projects — Hard 
work of the Government at Naples — Silent opposition of Prince Joseph 
to the Emperor's views — General Regnier occupies Calabria — Prince 
Joseph resolves on visiting that province. 

In spite of all that the Emperor had obliged the Senate to say, and 
of all that he had said himself, public opinion in Paris was not in 
favour of the war. The people could not witness unmoved the 
endangering of so many interests, which a series of reverses might 
entirely ruin ; and if there was enthusiasm among the troops, 
among the people was evident discouragement, which the Em- 
peror' s enemies did not fail to keep up. He had scarcely quitted 
the capital when considerable alarm was evinced at the Bank con- 
cerning the exchange of the notes it had put in circulation. There 
was a deficiency of specie ; the rate of exchange had to be lowered, 
and on the 3d Vendemiaire, the day after the Emperor's departure, 
the Bank could only give cash to the amount of three hundred 
thousand francs (;f 12,000), accepting only one note for a thousand 
francs (;^4o) from each creditor who presented himself. The dis- 
content was grave. The Bank, or at least the principal share- 
holders, were accused of trading in the specie and of having ex- 
ported a large quantity. Others laid the scarcity of money on the 
shoulders of the Government and on the loans made to it by the 



388 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Bank. But the last accusation ^vas quite unfounded : we of the 
Council of State were satisfied that such a proceeding had never 
even been contemplated, and that the evil must be attributed to 
the greed and the ill-judged speculations of the Governors of the 
Bank. 

The difficulty of the public finances lasted nearly the whole time 
of the Emperor's absence. Several councils were held to devise 
means for lessening the attendant consequences, and various meas- 
ures more or less adapted to diminish the evil were decreed. 

During the whole time that this crisis lasted, the Public Ex- 
chequer was in a ver}'- strained position ; and its difficulties were yet 
further increased by an extraordinary bounty granted by M. Barbe- 
IMarbois, the then JMinister of the Treasury. In order to save the 
firm of Ouvrard and Vanderbergh, who supplied the Commissariat, 
from impending failure, he entrusted to them upon the whole of 
the bonds of the Receivers-General then in the Treasury a sum of 
eighty-five millions, which the contractors deposited in the Bank. 
On this deposit the Bank increased its issue of notes, and that 
operation was partly the cause of the impossibility of paying them 
at sight. 

In granting so great a favour to speculators, M. Barbe-Marbois 
was doubtless influenced by no blameable motive ; but he was 
wrong, in the first place, to consent to it without authorization, 
and in the second, not to have acquainted Prince Joseph with what 
he had done, for the Prince was thus left without any knowledge 
of the cause of an evil for which he was obliged to seek a remedy. * 

In the midst of the agitation caused by such grave irregularities 

* Prince Joseph having no authority over the Treasury, M. Barbe- 
Marbois wa^ not, strictly speaking, obliged to render him any account ; but 
the singular part of this transaction is, that it was for a considerable time 
concealed from the knowledge of the Emperor. The impression made 
on the Emperor by the Minister's behaviour is evident from the following 
letter to his brother. It is dated Schonbrunn, 4th Nivose (Dec, 25). 

My Brother, — I send you an unsealed letter for the Minister of the 
Public Treasury. You will read it and forward it to him, after sealing 
it. I do not yet know whether this is folly or treason, but the Coalition 
had no more useful ally than my Minister. I suspend my judgment un- 
til on my arrival, which is near at hand, I can myself verify the facts and 
discover the truth. As a matter of fact I believe the man has betrayed 
me. Meanwhile do not alarm him. Tell him that there is but one way 
of dispersing the storm which is about to burst over him : it is to restore 
the bonds which have been taken from the Treasury. Send for the Gen- 
eral Cashier in order to learn the total value of the securities taken from 
his keeping. Consult the Minister of Finance ; but say nothing to Cam- 
baceres : I don't know how far the two Michels, who are his friends, 
may be mixed up in all this business," etc. 

In January, 1S06, after the Emperor's return to Paris, M. Barbe-Mar- 
bois was superseded at the Treasury by M. MoUieu. 



A DECLARATION. 389 



just at the opening of a campaign, Austria and Russia published 
the declaration of war, in which the two Powers made known the 
purposes with which they were undertaking it. They set forth that 
they resorted to arms only in order to restrain the ambition of 
France, and to oppose her present or future invasion of Italy. 
They declared, at the same time, that they would lay down their 
arms on the following conditions only. 

* ' France should withdraw within her natural boundaries, viz. , 
the left bank of the Rhine, the Alps, the Mediterranean, the Pyre- 
nees and the Ocean. 

* ' She should not maintain a single soldier beyond the Rhine, 
nor in Italy, Switzerland or Holland. 

' ' Spain, Portugal, Piedmont, Switzerland, and Holland should 
be restored to governments quite independent of, and removed 
from, the influence of France. 

* ' A State should be formed in Italy, for the Bourbon family, 
consisting of the Milanese and of the Duchies of Parma and 
Piacenza. ' ' 

The foregoing declaration was adroitly drawn up, with the ex- 
ception of the last Article. Propositions apparently moderate, and 
even glorious for France, were offered for her acceptance : they 
might make an impression in favour of the new Coalition, and ob- 
tain for it the approval of the wiser part of the public, who were 
far from perceiving the necessity of making war to further gigantic 
projects of aggrandisement, which, even if successful, would en- 
danger the existence of the nation in the future. But the pro- 
vision in favour of the Bourbons was alarming to this sam& portion 
of the public, and destroyed the effect of all the other Articles. 
And, indeed, it too clearly revealed an intention of encouraging 
the hopes of the Bourbons : France would lose all sense of safety 
and tranquillity, if a country so near her borders were bestowed on 
a family whose desires it would never satisfy, and who would only 
make use of it to excite civil discord among the French. There- 
fore the declaration of war, which in this respect was a blunder, 
justified Napoleon, in the eyes of France, more fully than all the 
speeches of his orators and all his articles in the ' Moniteur ' could 
ever have done. 

On the other hand, victory came to perfect his justification, and 
that so brilliantly, that the enthusiasm evoked by his marvellous 
and rapid campaign soon overpowered every other sentiment, ex- 
cept that of profound admiration. 

This wonderful series of victories was uninterrupted, save by the 
unexpected news received by Prince Joseph, on the 13th Brumaire, 
Year XIV. (Nov. 4, 1805), of the disasters sustained by our fleet, 
while the exploits of our armies were amazing all Europe. The 



390 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

following particulars concerning the causes and circumstances of 
that fatal event were communicated to me at the time. 

The combined squadron had left Corunna to return to Cadiz. 
It consisted of thirty-three French and Spanish ships. Admiral 
Villeneuve, who was in command, knew that he had been super- 
seded by Admiral Rosily. The Admiral had been attacked by 
the ' Moniteur ' of the 13th Fructidor, in an article containing 
these words dictated by the Emperor : ' ' Nothing is wanting to the 
French navy but a man of nene, cool courage, and audacity ; 
some day, perhaps, such a man will arise, and then the world will 
see of what our sailors are capable." Villeneuve would not wait 
for the arrival of his successor. He, therefore, came out of Cadiz 
on the 3Cth Vendem'iaire (Oct. 21). Rosily was not to arrive 
until the next day, and on making up his mind to this step, he 
wrote as follows : " I will show the Emperor that I have ner\'e and 
courage, but that both are insufficient without either officers or 
sailors." 

The squadron fell in with the English fleet on the same day, 
and the battle began almost within sight of Cadiz, close to Cape 
Trafalgar, whence this celebrated naval engagement has received 
its name. The French and Spanish lost twenty-two vessels, the 
Bucentaur, Villeneuve' s flag-ship, was sunk, and the Admiral taken 
a prisoner to England. Nelson, the victorious hero, was struck 
down in the midst of his triumph, and Admiral Gravina had an 
arm shot off. This utter defeat annihilated the French navy, 
which never recovered itself under Imperial rule. 

The ' Moniteur' was silent on the subject, and as the particu- 
lars I have just given were little known at first, much less sensation 
was produced than if the facts of the case had been less carefully 
concealed from the public. On the other hand, the bulletins from 
the Grand Army, arriving in rapid succession, and announcing 
a fresh victory almost every day, exclusively engrossed public at- 
tention. The news of the battle of Austerlitz, which reached Paris 
on the 20th Frimaire (Dec. 10), and the thirtieth bulletin, giving 
particulars of that battle, aroused popular enthusiasm to the high- 
est point and effaced all recollection of our naval reverses. 

P^rance could reap no more precious harvest from all her glori- 
ous exploits than peace, and it was the hope of obtaining that 
wiiich interested her so deeply in the successes of our troops. The 
arrival of the Austrian plenipotentiaries at the Emperor's head- 
quarters had been announced at the theatres in Paris, and had ex- 
cited tumultuous expressions of joy. Hope had become still 
stronger after AustcrHtz, and little doubt was felt that a peace both 
glorious and advantageous to France would soon be concluded. 
But the Emperor showed great displeasure at his brother's eager- 



THE emperor's LETTER. 39I 

ness to welcome^and encourage rumours of peace. Either he ap- 
prehended that it would be forced upon him by the will of the 
people, or else he wanted to make the Austrian negotiators under- 
stand that he did not regard peace as necessary for himself, and 
was therefore resolved to remain master of the situation ; for he 
repeatedly blamed the conduct of Prince Joseph. He even wrote 
him, at the beginning of Frimaire, a remarkable letter on this sub- 
ject, of which the following is an extract copied from the original 
on the very day that it was received, the 4th Nivose (Dec. 24). 

' * My brother — I have received your letter of 1 6 Frimaire. I am 
sorry you took so much notice of the news of the arrival of the 
Austrian plenipotentiaries, and that you are so weak as to be guided 
by the talk of persons who are for peace at any price. It is not 
peace that is important, but the conditions on which it is made, 
and the subject is too complicated to be understood by the bour- 
geoise of Paris. I am not in the habit of guiding my policy by 
the talk of Parisian idlers. My people will always be satisfied when 
I am. Either I carry out my words or I die. The same voices 
that to-day are crying out for peace, would to-morrow condemn 
the conditions on which I had accepted it. The public must not 
be misled by the newspapers ; I am greatly displeased with the 
* Journal de Paris,'* in particular, and with some articles it has 
lately published. Only fools or knaves could think or write in 
such a way." 

But this haughty language did not in any way interfere with the 
progress of the negotiations. They were carried on at Presburg 
by M. de Talleyrand, while the Emperor remained at Schonbrunn, 
near Vienna, whence he was able to follow their course ; and they 
terminated in the Treaty of the 6th Nivose (Dec. 26), signed on 
the part of France by M. de Talleyrand, and by Prince Lichtenstein 
and Count Giulay on the part of Austria. By this treaty the Em- 
peror of Germany lost the Tyrol, and his possessions in Swabia 
and Bresgau ; the Electors of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg gained the 
title of King ; Venice and the adjoining territory, that had been 
ceded to the Emperor Francis by the Treaty of Campo-Formio, 
were united to the kingdom of Italy ; in short, Austria was limited 
to her hereditary possessions. Never had victor imposed harder 
conditions on the vanquished ; but we must, injustice, admit that 
they might have been harder still : the very existence of the House 
of Hapsburg was at that moment in Napoleon's hands. 

The Treaty of Presburg was the last diplomatic act dated from 
the Revolutionary Era, which expired on the nth Nivose, Year 

* It was at that time under M. Roederer's direction, and he was the 
vmter of numerous articles remarkable for their moderation and abilit3% 



392 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

XIV. (Dec. 31, 1805). On the following day, Januar)' i, 1806, 
the use of the Gregorian Calendar was resumed. 

Everything that could recall Republican customs was thus fast 
disappearing ; and an Imperial regime succeeded to a period of 
thirteen years and three months, in which a revolution, begun on 
noble principles of liberty and independence, brought a great 
people, first, from a state of anarchy to one of popular tyranny, 
and then, by an outbreak in an opposite direction, destroyed the 
latter, and from the restoration of order proceeded to absolute 
monarchy. This dominating power, founded on glorious trophies, 
supported by armed force, directed by a man of extraordinary 
genius and ability, seem.ed imperishable ; and yet all these things 
failed to sustain it, when it was no longer protected by the popular 
feeling and affection of France. But at the period of which I 
speak, when bales of colours taken from the enemy were unrolled 
to adorn the ceilings of the Luxembourg, when all that is flattering 
to the vanity and pride of a vain, glory-loving people contributed 
to console them for their lost liberty, what voice would have ven- 
tured to predict that the hero whose own character was so power- 
ful, and who was so favoured by destiny, had already reached the 
zenith of his greatness ; that, not content to remain there, he 
would weaken his empire by endeavouring to extend it ; that, in 
short, from that moment he began the descent to the abyss in 
which he and his vast conquests were to be engulfed ? Yet this 
was to be, although the end was as yet undiscernible. The intox- 
ication was universal, and it was unminglcd with any apprehen- 
sion for the future : the time for reflection was not yet come. An 
eager crowd filled the streets through which the procession bearing 
the flags sent by the Emperor to the Senate was to pass ; and 
although some of the acclamations were paid for by the police, the 
origin of those was readily detected : the others were sufficiently 
sincere and numerous to satisfy the hero in whose honour they 
were raised. 

The peace just concluded by the Emperor reduced Austria to 
complete inaction, and left him free to turn his thoughts to Italy. 
He had to chastise the disloyalty of a power, which, breaking 
through a recent treaty of neutrality, had invited the Russians to 
the Mediterranean, and had opened its ports to them. This act 
was odious on account of its breach of faith, and as useless as it 
was impolitic, so long as the fortune of war was still undecided in 
Germany. But the Neapolitan C'ourt, blinded by the passions of 
a revengeful Queen, had scorned the dictates of prudence ; and 
now that it was abandoned by those whose aid it had evoked, and 
was reduced to the aid of the English, who although masters of 
the sea could neither defend the capital nor the country ; now that 



NAPLES. 393 

it found itself incapable of resistance, nothing was left for it but a 
disgraceful flight. Its subjects and its possessions were left to the 
mercy of an exasperated enemy. 

Napoleon lost not a moment. From Schonbrunn, he sent 
orders to his brother Joseph to march on Naples at the head of the 
army that Massena was assembling in Upper Italy. The Prince 
left Paris on the 9th of January, 1806. There is no doubt that 
wise policy and a righteous indignation imposed on the Emperor 
the duty of punishing the King of Naples for his treachery ; but, 
at the same time, the ease with which he took possession of the 
kingdom was fatal to his dynasty, by tempting him to drive away 
the former rulers, and to bestow his conquest on members of his 
own family. He now entered for the first time on the system of 
founding subordinate monarchies, to be subsequently distributed 
among his kinsmen, a system which, as it roused all Europe 
against him, hastened his downfall. 

The Emperor had left Schonbrunn immediately after the signa- 
ture of the Treaty of Presburg, and had proceeded to Munich, 
where he arrived on the 31st of December, 1805. While there 
he arranged a marriage between Prince Eugene Beauharnais, 
whom he had adopted, and on whom he had conferred the succes- 
sion to the crown of Italy, and Princess Augusta, daughter of the 
new-made King of Bavaria. 

He then set out for Paris, where he arrived on the 26th of Jan- 
uary, at nine p. m. I saw him on the following day, when he re- 
ceived the Council of State in a friendly way. He was full of 
animation and activity, and had not sufl[ered in health from the 
fatigues of the campaign. He was much stouter. He talked a 
great deal about what had taken place in Paris during his absence, 
especially the affair of the Bank, and severely censured the greed 
of the Financiers belonging to the administration of the Bank, who 
had made a fraudulent bankruptcy by suspending the payment of 
notes, while they divided the profit of the bonds among the bond- 
holders. He told us that he should make an example, and prose- 
cute the Governors of the Bank. He expressed his satisfaction 
with the public administration in other respects. ' ' All has gone 
well, ' ' said he, " during my absence, with the exception of the 
finances. ' ' 

On the next morning I received a letter from him in the follow- 
ing terms : ' ' Monsieur Miot — It is my desire that you should 
leave Paris on the 30th of this month, for the headquarters of the 
army of Naples, where you will put yourself under the orders of 
Prince Joseph, my Lieutenant-General, and Commander-in-chief 
of the army of Naples. He will employ you, in the administra- 
tion of the kingdom of Naples, in such way as he shall consider 



394 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

most conducive to the interests to my sen^ice. On which, I pray 
God to have you in His holy keeping. Given at Paris, January 
27th, 1806." 

I had some reason to expect the Emperor to come to this de- 
cision concerning me. Prince Joseph, on taking leave of me, 
eighteen days before, had said that he did not wish to be parted 
from me, and that he should make it the subject of a request to 
the Emperor. He would even have proposed that I should ac- 
company him at once, had not a special authorization and even a 
positive order been necessary before, as a Councillor of State, I 
could absent myself. It was not, however, without deep emotion 
that I perused the letter that thus disposed of my fate. I was 
about to leave my country, to relinquish the position of honour- 
able ease that I was enjoying in Paris, for an uncertain future in a 
foreign land. On the other hand, I should again be in the society 
of a man for whom I entertained a profound affection, whose 
amiable disposition attracted me more and more, and who lav- 
ished upon me every day the most flattering proofs of his confi- 
dence. In attaching myself to his fortunes, I sought to gratify 
my feelings rather than my ambition, and I took a sort of pride in 
making a sacrifice which I felt sure would be appreciated. Lastly, 
I was relinquishing functions, which, although they had brought 
me very little in contact with the police properly so called, had 
nevertheless often been repugnant to me. Therefore, I at once 
made up my mind to accept my new post. 

The Emperor, whom I saw the next day at the Tuileries, told 
me not to start until he should have again seen me, and bade me 
wait on him the following morning at his lever. I accordingly 
presented myself at nine a.m. on the 30th of January ; and having 
summoned me to his cabinet, he conversed with me for a con- 
siderable time. I will give an abridgement of that conversation, 
the last I held with him during the days of his prosperity. 

" You are about to join my brother. You will tell him, that I 
am making him King of Naples, that he remains Grand Elector, 
and that I am making no change in his relations with France. 
But tell him, also, tliat the least hesitation, the slightest vacil- 
lation will ruin him utterly. In my own mind, I have another al- 
ready appointed in his place, if he declines it. I shall call that 
other Napoleon ; he shall be my son. It was my brother's be- 
haviour at St. Cloud, it was his refusal to accept the crown of 
Italy, that made me adopt Eugene for my son. I am still deter- 
mined to give the same prerogative to another, if he drives me to 
it. Every natural affection must yield before the welfare of the 
State. I only recognize as kinsmen those who are useful to me. 
Fortune is not attached to the name of Bonaparte, but to that of 



THE EMPEROR S INJUNCTIONS. 395 

Napoleon. It is with my hand and my pen that I beget chil- 
dren. I can now only love those whom I esteem. Joseph must 
forget all the ties and all the affections of childhood ! He must 
win esteem ! He must acquire glory ! He must get wounded 
in a battle ! I can esteem him then. He must give up all his 
former ideas ! He must no longer dread fatigue ! It is only by 
despising that, and by hard work, that a man becomes anything, 
it is not by coursing hares at Morfontaine. Look at me, my last 
cam.paign with its fatigues and anxieties has fattened me. I believe 
that if all the Kings of Europe joined the coalition against me, I 
should be as fat as a London alderman. 

* ' I am giving a splendid opportunity to my brother. Let him 
govern his new States firmly and with wisdom ! Let him prove 
himself worthy of all my gifts ! But to be at Naples is nothing, 
and no doubt you will find he has already arrived — for I do not 
think there can have been any resistance — Sicily must be taken. 
He must push on the war with vigour ! He must be seen at the 
head of his troops ! He must be firm ! That is the only way of 
gaining the esteem of soldiers. I shall leave with him fourteen 
regiments of the line, five of cavalry — in all, about forty thousand 
men. Let him provide for that portion of my army ; it is the 
only tax I levy on him. 

** But above all, he must prevent M *s robberies. The sums 

he receives from the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Naples, must 
provide for my troops and not be spent in enriching rogues. What 

M did in the Venetian States is frightful. And it is not over 

yet. He must dismiss him, therefore, at the first proof of his dis- 
honesty ! I neither fear nor spare my Generals. 

** As to S , I have already told my brother not to let him 

rob quite so unrestrainedly. I would not deprive him of an able 
man who may be of service to him ; but he only went to those 
parts to pile up a few more millions. He is already rich enough. 
Watch those two men ; and don't let them bring dishonour on 
my brother's reputation. He will make you his Minister of War. 

" You have heard me ; I can no longer have obscure kinsmen. 
Those who do not rise with me, cease to belong to my family. I 
am making it a family of Kings, or rather of Vice-Kings, for the 
King of Italy, the King of Naples, and others whom I do not 
name will all belong to the Federal system. I am willing how- 
ever to forget the behaviour of two of my brothers towards me ; 
let Lucien put away his wife, and I will give him a throne. As 
for Jerome, he has already partly made up for his offences. After 
his year' s cruise, * I shall marry him to a princess ; but I will 
never allow Lucien' s wife to seat herself beside me." 

* He was serving in the Navy. 



396 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

I interrupted this long tirade with a few words only. I endeav- 
oured to direct the Emperor's thoughts into a milder and more 
kindly course ; but his sharp replies convinced me that this extraor- 
dinary' man was then entirely engrossed by the various combina- 
tions of his ambitious policy, and that he held natural affection as 
nought when it interfered with his plans. I withdrew, fully con- 
vinced that Prince Joseph's only course was one of entire submis- 
sion. 

]\L de Talleyrand, on whom I called, after leaving the audience 
chamber, confirmed me in this impression, and also gave me his 
\'iews of what the Prince's conduct at Naples ought to be. " He 
should simply ascend the throne," said the Minister, '* making 
no constitution, leaving the nobility and the various institutions 
just as he finds them in the country ; but he should appoint 
Frenchmen only to office. To give places to the natives of the 
country would only serve to encourage either one faction or the 
other.* He should instantly confer on himself the Neapolitan 
Order, send a decoration to the Emperor, and bestow them on the 
persons about him ; in fact he should act exactly as if he ascended 
the Throne in the natural order." M. de Talleyrand added that 
he hoped the Prince would retain the Marquis de Gallof as Nea- 
politan Ambassador to Paris, and that there was no doubt the 
Emperor would approve of the selection. 

These counsels, little in harmony with those that Napoleon had 
just given me, were not and could not be followed. They show 
that M. de Talleyrand knew little of the state of the country, and 
that he was unaware that the French could make for themselves 
no stable position, unless they offered political advantages of some 
kind to the inhabitants. To leave the nation altogether under the 
yoke of th'e feudal system that had hitherto weighed it down ; to 
make no attempt to satisfy the wants which the progress of educa- 
tion had called into existence, at any rate in the more intelligent 
part of society, if not in its whole mass ; to do nothing to raise the 
lower classes out of the state of ignorance and prejudice in which 
they were kept by the influence of the priests, would have been 
equally impolitic and dishonourable. Prince Joseph acted on very 
different principles, and he was right : he thus bestowed a better 
government on the country, and the good he effected still subsists, 
notwithstanding the subsequent revolutions. 

I left Paris for Naples on January 31, 1806. As I am now 
about to be separated from France for a period of several years, 

* Since the Revolution of 1799 the country had been divided into two 
parties, the Republicans, who through the help of the French had been 
the dominant party, and the Royalists. 

f The same whom I had met at Monlebello in 1797. 



LUCIEN BONAPARTE. 397 



and far removed from the great political arena, I feel that the ob- 
servations I made and consigned to my journal during those years 
will awaken less interest than may perhaps have been felt in these 
Memoirs up to the present time, for the stage will be a narrower 
one. I cannot help thinking, however, that the country I am 
about to describe, the events of which it was the theatre, the de- 
scription of its manners in relation to the institutions which it was 
sought to establish, and the aspect under which I shall present 
Napoleon's policy with regard to his conquests, will be found 
interesting by the reader. 

I travelled through Lyons, Chambery, and Savoy. I stayed two 
days in Rome, where I saw M. Lucien Bonaparte. He had taken 
up his abode in a magnificent palace, in which he had gathered 
together a valuable collection of pictures and antiques. Among 
other curiqsities, I noticed the Minerva from the Giustiniani 
Palace ; this was a recent acquisition. Our conversation ran en- 
tirely on art and literature,* he carefully avoided every subject 
which might have led him to express an opinion on the political 
situation. I had therefore no opportunity of mentioning what had 
passed concerning him in my last conversation with the Emperor 
before my departure, and which in all probability had been said to 
me in order that I might repeat it. But the subject was too deli- 
cate for me to enter upon it directly, and nothing was said to lead 
to its introduction. 

I reached Naples on the 20th of February, 1806. Prince 
Joseph and the army had arrived there a week before. He had 
met with no opposition ; Gaeta only had not surrendered, but as 
that fortress was not on the line of route, the advance of our troops 
had not been delayed, and they had entered Naples without diffi- 
culty. The Forts had capitulated, and the Island of Capri, at the 
entrance of the Gulf of Naples, was in the occupation of the 
French. 

Notwithstanding this rapid success, the state of affairs was not 
very satisfactory, and my first thoughts were directed neither to the 
beauty of the country nor to the objects of interest to a traveller 
in the town and its neighbourhood. We were not yet masters of 
the country ; Gaeta would have to be regularly besieged, and time 
was needed to collect the necessary means for undertaking this, 
and for bringing a siege to a successful conclusion. Calabria was 
occupied by the Neapolitan army, which having fled before the 
French, now purposed to defend the passes of the Apennines. An 
expedition to Sicily, to complete the conquest of the Kingdom of 

* He was at that time engaged on an Epic poem, Charlemagne, which 
he dedicated to the Pope. It was published by Firmin Didot in 1815. 



398 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Naples, presented almost insurmountable difficulties ; immense 
preparations \vould be required, as well as a navy, which we did 
not possess, and which we must create. The public treasur}' was 
absolutely empty ; the former Court, on escaping to Palermo, had 
carried away money, jewels, and furniture, leaving the palace quite 
dismantled. The French troops were arriving from Upper Italy, 
with their pay already more than three months in arrear, while we 
were entirely without the means of either defraying this enormous 
debt, or providing for the current expenses by which it was every 
day increased. 

Amid all these difficulties, it was necessary to organize an ad- 
ministration. The Prince, who was desirous from the very first of 
gaining the affection of the people whom he was called upon to 
govern, thought that the best means to that end would be to select 
his Ministers and the principal Government officials from among 
the Neapolitans ; acting in this on views entirely different from 
those of jM. de Talleyrand, and even from the Emperor's, who had 
intended me for the post of War Minister. The Prince, adopting 
an opposite course, at first nominated an exclusively national 
Ministr)^ ; but on perceiving the dislike that would be felt by 
French officers, to being brought into contact with a Neapolitan 
General, and receiving orders from him, he altered his plan, and 
made choice of two French Ministers : myself for War, and Sali- 
cetti for Police.* These alterations being made, the Neapolitan 
administration was composed as follows : — 

M. de Cianciulli, a celebrated lawyer, and one of the first men 
in Naples, Minister of Grace and Justice. 

Prince Bisignano, belonging to the San-Severini family, Minis- 
ter of Finance. 

Commander Pignatelli, IVIinister of the Navy. 

The Duke de Cassano, belonging to the Serra family of Genoa, 
Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs. 

The Duke de Campo-Chiaro, Minister of the Household. 

The Marquis de Gallo, Ambassador at Paris, but recalled 
thence, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

M. Salicetti, Minister of Police, and myself. Minister of War. 

This Administration, as the reader will perceive, was partly Nea- 
politan and partly French, the Neapolitan element being in the 
majority. It did not, however, last long without alteration. On 
General Mathieu Dumas' arrival shortly afterwards, the War De- 
partment was confided to him, and a Ministry of the Interior was 
created, to which I was appointed. Lastly, Prince Bisignano hav- 
ing at first made great difficulties about accepting the Ministry of 

♦ He had arrived at Naples a few days before me. 



NAPOLEON TO JOSEPH. 399 

Finance, M. Roederer who came to Naples in the following May, 
took his place, and the Administration thus composed continued 
to exist during the whole of Joseph's reign at Naples, with a few 
exceptions, which I shall take occasion to note. 

These first arrangements being made, the Government began to 
assume a regular form. The Prince applied himself assiduously 
to business, holding several councils, and showing himself fre- 
quently in public. Generally speaking, he was tolerably well re- 
^eeived ; his treatment of the Neapolitans, whom he had gathered 
around him, and whom he had appointed to various official posts, 
gained him many adherents. The former Court party had fled, 
leaving neither love nor regret behind them, but infinite prudence 
was needed to restrain the pretensions of those who had accom- 
plished the revolution of 1799, and who, having been so cruelly 
ill-used by the Queen and Cardinal Ruffo, were now persuaded 
that the French would take their part, and give them an opportu- 
nity of revenge on their persecutors. These men must neither be 
propitiated, nor yet driven to extremity ; a very difficult course to 
follow, as instructions from Paris forbade all concessions in their 
favour, and according to the principles of government just adopted 
by the Emperor, the revolutionary ideas which we had sown broad- 
cast throughout the country seven years before, were now abso- 
lutely rejected. In every letter, the Emperor advised the Prince 
to disarm the Neapolitans, to distrust them, and to be constantly 
on his guard against them. 

I will give extracts from two of these letters, from which the 
reader will see, more clearly than I can set them forth, the Em- 
peror' s opinions on the country, and the line of conduct he wished 
the Prince to adopt. 

The first letter, dated March ist, was as follows : — 

" My Brother, — I have received your letters. Such difficulties 
as yours are experienced in all newly-conquered countries. You 
must expect an insurrection ; it will happen sooner or later. I 
suppose you have provisioned your forts, and that you have ap- 
pointed commandants ad hoc. I send you five or six auditors; 
they are well-informed young men of proved honesty, who have 
for some time belonged to the Council of State. Miot is, I sup- 
pose, now with you. I have sent Arcambal to you.* I have 
ordered Radet, f who is at Naples, to join you in order to organize 
the gendarmerie. Send the Jesuits back to their houses ; there 
are probably very few Neapolitans among them. I do not recog- 
nize that order. 

* One of the Commissioners Directors of the army, 
f A general commanding the artillery. 



400 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

** Sooner or later I will make the people of Barbary respect 
Neapolitan ships. But you know what brutes the Turks are, I 
have made them acknowledge the kingdom of Italy, but they un- 
derstand nothing about it. Try to sail the Neapolitan ships under 
my flag ; your marine agents ought to know how to do this. 

" Announce my arrival in Italy. It will, however, be difficult 
for me to get to Naples. It is a long journey. 

" Arm your forts ! disarm the Neapolitans ! 

*' Believe me, you will never maintain yourself in that country 
by public opinion. Sooner or later you will have an insurrec- 
tion ; levy a tax of five or six millions on Naples. The army 
must be supported by the country. Be merciless to those who 
rob. ]M has seized on everything. We have it on the author- 
ity of S that he (M ) has received three millions as a 

gift. * He must disgorge them ; if he does not, he shall be made 
responsible for that sum in the accounts I shall publish in the 
month of May of the disbursement of the contributions levied in 
Germany, and I will appoint a Commission of seven or eight 
generals that will make him account for it." 

The other letter, dated March 6th, was written in the same tone. 
" You can send me your convicts (galeriens)," he wrote to his 
brother, " if they inconvenience you. f Turn the fifteen thousand 
lazzaroni out of Naples ; remember that sooner or later you will 
have an insurrection. Tell me about the fort ; establish, as I did 
at Cairo, mortar batteries, capable of destroying the town in case 
of revolt. You will have no need to use those murderous instru- 
ments, but they will be you safeguard. Impose on the whole 
kingdom a tax of thirty millions. It is well able to pay it. 
Naples is richer than was Vienna or Milan, when I entered those 
cities. Your army and your generals must live well. The king- 
dom of Naples, without counting Sicily, should return one hun- 
dred millions. If it does not do so, it is because the former sys- 
tem, established by the kings of Spain when they governed by 
viceroys, is still maintained. You say you have no money ; but 
you have a good army, and nothing can be wanting to you since 
you hold the fiefs and goods of the clergy. In a fortnight or three 
weeks a decree from you or from me must order the restoration of 
all property and all taxes, of whatever nature, that have been alien- 

* One of M 's secret agents in the Italian army ; he was then in 

Paris. 

f At Naples there was a large number of convicts who gave a great 
deal of trouble. Many escaped and went to swell the number of brig- 
ands in the provinces. The police-soldiers who had charge of them were 
no better than their prisoners, and we could not employ the French 
troops in a service so distasteful to ihem. 



napoleon's designs. 401 

ated from the crown, even had that ahenation existed from time 
immemorial. You must not count on me. The five hundred 
thousand francs that I have sent you are the very last moneys I 
shall send to Naples. Not so much on account of the two or 
three millions it might cost me, as of the principle it involves." 

Independently of these instructions, or to speak more accurate- 
ly, of these secret orders, for the regulation of the Prince' s con- 
duct, we can discern the Emperor' s general views on his future 
projects in his correspondence. He contemplated going to Rome, 
taking the title of Emperor of the West, being again crowned by 
the Pope in that character, leaving the spiritual power only in the 
hands of the Holy See, with a revenue of one or two millions ; in 
fact, acting Charlemagne over again, as Fontanes had often ad- 
vised him. These propositions were suggested to the Pope, with- 
out being officially communicated to him. But he no sooner un- 
derstood them, than he imparted them to the Cardinals, at a 
meeting to which they were all summoned, with the exception of 
Cardinal Fesch. 

This assembly declared unanimously that it was better to die 
than to live under conditions so severe, and the Pope wrote to the 
Emperor refusing his consent, in a letter as firm as it was tem- 
perate. 

From the letters already quoted, and from the details I have 
given, it is easy to perceive to what a height the pretensions of the 
Emperor had been raised by the success of the last campaign and 
the consequent humiliation of the house of Austria. The spirit of 
absolute dominion in which he ruled France was also manifested 
in his dealings with the conquered countries, and at the same time 
it was seen how little he respected those ancient institutions which 
M. de Talleyrand had tried to preserve to the nations whom he 
subdued. But, curiously enough, the Prince's character caused 
him to dislike both systems equally. He was strongly opposed to 
all measures of severity. He was of a sanguine disposition, and, 
flattering himself that he would be able, by his speeches, his pleas- 
ant words, and gracious manners, to win all hearts, he always re- 
fused to recognize enemies in those about him. Thus, far from 
hedging himself round with suspicion, far from adopting the threat- 
ening attitude prescribed to him by his brother, he gave way to 
his natural inclinations, and the smallest token of amity was suffi- 
cient to satisfy him of the good intentions of those who bestowed 
it. On the other hand, his philosophical opinions, the part he 
had played in France at the beginning of the Revolution, as an 
ardent republican, now rendered him inimical to all those who 
clung to the ancient feudal institutions, and although he greatly 
desired to win the good opinion of the nobility and clergy, and to 



402 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



this end treated those two classes more favourably than any others, 
yet he was not inclined to protect their rights and privileges. He 
merely wished that the sacrifices which he exacted should be as 
little onerous as possible for those who made them, and he 
managed this with some success in his financial measures. He 
had his reward. During his short term of government, he j)re- 
vented all danger of an insurrection in Naples, without resorting 
to extreme measures, and he provided for the wants of the State 
without severe exactions. I shall have occasion to point this out 
hereafter. I now revert to the commencement of his reign. 

It began, as we have seen, wuth many difficulties. To the local 
troubles were added the pretensions of the French army, and, 
above all, of the genetals who were made rapacious by some ex- 
amples of rapidly-acquired wealth. The despatches received from 
Paris, far from rectifying the evil, gave rise to fresh difficulties. 
The Emperor insisted on a complete dependence and a blind obe- 
dience. The Prince, who desired to deal honestly with the coun- 
try over w'hich he was so soon to reign, endeavoured to make 
himself more w^orthy of the throne by acting with independence, 
and at the same time to render his accession the beginning of a 
new political era for the kingdom. From this resulted an opposi- 
tion, if not open, at least tacit, to everything coming from Paris. 
The agents sent thence, when not chosen by the Prince himself, 
were regarded by him as spies upon his conduct. He conse- 
quently refused admittance to the auditors of the Council of State, 
who had been delegated to him, and w^hom he dismissed from 
Naples, without having allowed them the least participation in 
public affairs. 

Thus were germs of discord introduced into the new Imperial 
family : and they subsequently developed themselves with conse- 
quences fatal to the system established by the Emperor, and large- 
ly contributed to accelerate its downfall. 

For the present these ominous symptoms of dissension were en- 
tirely confined to the interior of the Cabinet, and were only recog- 
nised by persons admitted to the Prince's confidence, and who 
could unravel the threads, and foresee the results. Externally, 
affairs progressed with every appearance of harmony and activity. 
The conquest of Italy was carried on ; a portion of the army under 
the command of General Regnier, had left Naples to occupy 
Calabria. That able general fulfilled his task with rapidity and 
success. The Neapolitan troops had been completely beaten in 
the passes of Campo-Tenese which command the entrance to that 
countr}', and which they had in vain attempted to defend. After 
this first victory the French occupied Northern Calabria without 
opposition ; then crossing the Sila mountains they advanced into 



PRINCE JOSEPH IN NAPLES. 403 

Southern Calabria and seized on Reggio. Still, notwithstanding 
this success, the country they had traversed had not submitted to 
them. Large bodies of brigands had come over from Sicily, and 
had spread from the coasts into the interior, exciting a fanatic and 
ignorant population on all sides to revolt. The line of communi- 
cation between Naples and the army corps in Calabria was almost 
entirely broken ; to re-establish it by dispersing the brigands, 
called for immediate attention, and the surest method of doing this 
was by instructing the population. 

It was necessary, in order to overcome their repugnance to the 
French, to abolish the martial laws then in force, in consequence 
of the late state of war, and to bring about a more just and mod- 
erate form of legislation by administrative measures. The Prince 
thought that no one but himself could succeed in this difficult 
undertaking, and he determined personally to visit the disturbed 
parts. A still stronger motive influenced him. It was indispen- 
sable that he should make sure that the expedition to Sicily, so 
constantly urged on him by the Emperor, was possible, and this 
he could only do by visiting Reggio, and the Italian coasts bor- 
dering upon the Straits. 

So soon as the Prince had resolved on this journey, he went 
(March 20) to inspect the siege works at Gaeta ; these, however, 
could make but little progress until the arrival of the heavy artillery 
from Upper Italy. Having convinced himself that the town could 
not be seriously attacked within six weeks' time, he returned to 
Naples, and fixed his departure for the beginning of April. General 
Dumas, the newly-appointed Minister of War, was directed to ac- 
company the Prince on this expedition, and I also went with him 
in the capacity of Minister of the Interior. The other ministers 
remained at Naples, as also did General Massena, who was in 
command of the armed forces ; he was to act in concert with Sali- 
cetti, the Minister of Police, in maintaining order in the capital 
during the absence of the Prince — with whom they both kept up a 
direct correspondence. 

I had been scarcely six weeks at Naples, when I was obliged to 
take a month's absence in the very midst of my multifarious occu- 
pations ; there remained to me, therefore, but little time in which 
to satisfy my curiosity. Nevertheless, I was enabled to accompany 
the Prince in his visits to the environs, and I profited by a few 
leisure moments to extend my observations. I visited, in turn, 
the principal monuments of Naples, the remains of Pompeii and 
Herculaneum, the antiquities of Posilippo and of Bai'a, the muse- 
ums of Naples and of Portici, and even the natural curiosities of 
the Neapolitan Campagna ; among others, the lakes of Averno, of 
Fusaro, and of Agnano, the celebrated Grotto del Cane, the 



404 MExMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Chateaux of Portici, Favorta and Caserta, with their deHcious 
gardens, where the rarest flowers grow almost wild ; but those 
celebrated places have already been described by so many travel- 
lers that I shall expatiate on them no farther. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Prince Joseph's journey in the Calabrias — On April 3d, in Provinces, 
the travellers are met by a courier bringing tidings of the Emperor's 
decree calling Prince Joseph to the throne of Naples, and creating 
Prince Murat Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal Berthier Prince of 
Neufchatel — The new King's State entry into Naples— The English 
seize on the island of Capri — Trial and execution of the Marquis of 
Rodio — A Council of State is instituted — The Neapolitan and French 
parties in the administration — The eruption of Mount Vesuvius — The 
English land in the Gulf of Saint Euphemia, defeat General Regnier. 
and force the French to evacuate the Calabrias, which rise in insurrec- 
tion — The surrender of Gaeta — Massena marches against the Calabrias, 
puts down the insurrection, and drives out the English — Administra- 
tive measures of the Government — Excursions made by the Author in 
the neighbourhood of Naples— Embarrassment caused to the Govern- 
ment, by the imminent danger of war in the north — The French victo- 
ries remove this danger, and the Administration is in consequence car- 
ried on with greater regularity — Financial difficulties — The convents 
of St. Benedict and St. Bernard are suppressed, but the mendicant 
orders are maintained — The King and the Author disagree on this sub- 
ject — A change in the ministry — The auspicious influence of the peace 
of Tilsit upon the Neapolitan Government — Encouragement of Arts 
and Sciences — Public works and improvement in the capital. 

Prince Joseph left Naples on the 3d of April, 1806. I accom- 
panied him on his journey ; but as Calabria, which at that period 
was but little known to travellers, on account of the difficulty and 
danger of the roads, has now been both visited and described many 
times, I shall refrain from giving a detailed account of a journey 
which would have but little interest for the reader. We went by 
Salerno, Paestum, La Chartreuse de la Padula, Lago, Negro and 
Campo-Tenese (at this latter place the Neapolitan army, having 
offered some resistance, had been completely defeated by General 
Regnier) ; and by Cassano and Cosenza. On the 13th April we 
were joined at Scigliano by a courier who had left Paris on the 
1st. He informed us that the Emperor had declared Prince 
Joseph, his brother, King of Naples ; Prince Murat, Grand Duke 
of Berg, and Marshal Berthier, Sovereign Prince of Neufchatel. 
Besides this general distribution of crowns, the Emperor had defin- 
itively united the Venetian States to the Kingdom of Italy. The 
eldest son of the King of Italy was to bear the title of Duke of 



406 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Venice. Prince Joseph, on ascending the throne of Naples, re- 
tained his title of Grand Elector, and his rights of succession in 
France, but he could not possess both crowns at the same time. 
The Emperor reserved to himself twelve Duchies in Italy, six of 
which* were in the Italian kingdom, especially in the ancient 
States of the Venetian Republic, and six were in the kingdom of 
Naples, with the right of naming their titularies. 

From Scigliano we continued our journey by Nicastro, Monte- 
leone, Palmi and Reggio, where the new king was very well re- 
ceived, and here we stayed from the 17th to the 19th of April. 
From this place, the extreme point of the Peninsula, we worked 
our way up towards Naples by Geracio, Squillace and Catanzaro, 
where we remained' on the 25th of April. Then, by Cotrona, 
Cariate, Cassano, Roca, Tarento and Foggia, we reached Caserto, 
the last town on our route, on the loth of May. The next day 
the King made his State entry into Naples. An enormous crowd 
lined the streets through which he passed, and every window and 
balcony was filled with spectators. He was cheered by thousands 
of voices, and received ever)'where with the real, or simulated glad- 
ness that is never wanting on such occasions. The entire cere- 
mony consisted of a Te Deum sung by the Archbishop of Naples f 
in the Church of the Spirito Santo, which stands at the entrance of 
the Strada di Toledo. Afterwards the Archbishop joined a numer- 
ous procession, which followed the King on foot, along the whole 
length of that beautiful street so far as the Palace, the ordinary 
residence of the kings of Naples. Salvoes of artillery were fired 
from the fortress of Saint Elmo, and from the harbour batteries. 

The King was received at the foot of the grand staircase, by the 
nobility and the heads of the magistracy and the administration. 
In the mfdst of this crowd, composed of all the most distinguished 
men of Naples, he gave audience to a deputation from the French 
Senate, sent to congratulate him in the name of that body on his 
succession to the throne. It consisted of Senators Perignone, 
Ferino and Rocderer ; the latter was the spokesman. 

* Of the six Duchies of the kingdom of Naples, four have been given ; 
Reggio (of Calabria) to Marshal Oudinot ; Otranto to Fouch6, the Min- 
ister of Police ; Gaeta to Gaudin, Minister of Finance, and Tarenio to 
Marshal Macdonald. 

f Cardinal Louis Ruffo, who must not be confounded with the famous 
and sanguinary Cardinal RufTo, who wreaked such cruel vengeance after 
the revolution of 1799, ^"^ ^^ whom the Archbishop of Naples was dis- 
tantly related. The Cardinal played his part with a very ill-grace on the 
day of King Joseph's entry into Naples, and withdrew to Rome shortly 
afterwards, to which city he had received orders to retire, having de- 
clined to take the oath of allegiance, so long as the new king refused to 
acknowledge himself a vassal of the Holy See. 



MASSENA AND SALICETTI. 407 

Fortune, however, tempered the excess of this prosperity by- 
some reverses. While the King was making his entry into Naples, 
the English appeared in the bay with three men of war and several 
frigates, and it was feared that they had come to disturb the cere- 
mony by firing on the town. But this was not their purpose ; they 
had a more serious one than a mere demonstration against the 
forts that defended Naples. During the night of the 1 1 th of May 
they attacked and took Capri. The small French garrison made 
a most gallant defence. The commander was killed, and the gar- 
rison surrendered on honourable terms. This event, though un- 
important in a military sense, was vexatious in a political one, and 
made an unfortunate impression at the beginning of the new reign. 
It also added to the difficulties of the expedition to Sicily, by 
almost entirely intercepting the maritime communications between 
the dock-yards and arsenals of Naples and Castellamare, and the 
coasts of Calabria. 

On the other hand, notwithstanding the welcome which the 
King had just received, this reception was far from inspiring us 
with confidence in the real sentiments of the people. The absence 
of the King was unfortunate. He had left a general of high and 
well-deserved reputation in the capital, but at this time he was en- 
tirely under the influence of his resentment against the Emperor, 
and he was endeavouring to save a portion of the fortune that was 
slipping from him in the immense sum which he was forced to 
pay as restitution money. He therefore served the King grudg- 
ingly, and no longer evinced the indomitable activity for which 
he had formerly been renowned, and which he again exhibited 
at a later period. At the same time that the military command 
had been given to Massena, the civil administration had been con- 
fided to M. Salicetti, Minister of Police, a man of great intelli- 
gence, but who was ignorant of any form of administration except 
a revolutionary one ; and who without perhaps seeking to increase 
his own fortune, allowed those about him to make theirs. These 
two men, who were but too well agreed, had created great discon- 
tent by various acts of severity, and above all by the trial and exe- 
cution of the Marquis de Rodio, who was condemned to death 
during our journey in Calabria. 

I will say a few words on this subject, because it involved a 
mistake which the King's government found it difficult to repair, 
although the King himself was quite innocent in the matter. 

The Marquis of Rodio was a brigadier in the service of the 
former court of Naples. When the Neapolitan army retreated 
after the battle of Campotenese, he was arrested in Calabria or the 
Basilicata, but he strongly maintained that he had only surren- 
dered as a prisoner of war. He was nevertheless brought before a 



408 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

court-martial, which, by a solemn judgment, declared him inno- 
cent of the crime of rebellion and incitement to insurrection, upon 
which it was summoned to pronounce. 

Salicetti was dissatisfied with the finding, .and induced Marshal 
INIassena to summon a second court-martial. This court, in spite 
of the decision of the first, tried the case a second time, and after 
deliberating three hours condemned Rodio to death. He was exe- 
cuted on the following day. Proceedings so unusual, and the 
rapid execution that followed, could not fail to excite universal in- 
dignation. The King was not informed of the event until it was 
too late for remedy,* and his displeasure was extreme. But as he 
did not mak*e it publicly known, and as no proceedings were insti- 
tuted against the authors of so criminal an abuse of power, the 
natural consequences of this deplorable event were soon forthcom- 
ing. 

Since the King's return, he had taken an active part in the gov- 
ernment of the kingdom. A Council of State, constituted in 
much the same way as that of France, had been organized, and 
acted in concert with the King in drawing up regulations and de- 
crees of general interest ; thus tending to moderate the absolute 
power that had hitherto been concentrated in the person of the 
king. The Council of State supervised the Ministers, and put a 
curb on all arbitrary proceedings. Although I was a Minister, I 
entirely approved of this arrangement, in which I found support, 
rather than an obstacle. My personal responsibility was lessened 
by it, and as the details of mv work, in my capacity of Chief of the 
riepartment of the Interior, required a special knowledge of the 
manners and customs of the country, I was enabled to obtain the 
knowledge, advice, and information absolutely necessary to pre- 
vent my falling into error, from the Councillors of State, who, with 
the exception of two or three Frenchmen, attached specially to the 
King's service, were all Neapolitans selected for their worth and 
wisdom. But my colleagues were not all of my way of thinking, 
tlie Minister of Police, especially, who was impatient of interfer- 
ence, easily evaded it, under pretext of the secrecy necessary to the 
exercise of his functions. On the other hand, notwithstanding 
that the King had summoned a great number of his new subjects 
to the Ministry, to the Council and t(^ the higher posts of Govern- 
ment, the Neapolitans looked with dislike on the few Frenchmen 
who shared political duties with them, and, from the very begin- 
ning, a contest arose between the two parties which gave great 
trouble to the Government, and frequently placed me in a very 

* He received the news on the 1st of May, at Cassano, a few minutes 
before leaving for Tarento. 



VESUVIUS. 409 



painful position. I did not however allow myself to be discour- 
aged. I devoted all my energies to the duties confided to me, and 
I thought I was fortunate enough to effect some little good. The 
fact is that the system of government established in the kingdom 
during my administration still subsists there. 

We had hardly got back to Naples, when an eruption of Mount 
Vesuvius, following close on the capture of the Island of Capri 
by the English, became a source of alarm, in addition to that 
caused by their appearance on the coast, and the landing that 
they effected in a few places. The people of Naples, who are 
habitually superstitious, became more so, whenever the alarming 
phenomenon of a volcanic eruption takes place ; they seldom fail 
to ascribe it to the Divine wrath, which, if allowed, they would 
endeavour to appease by a persecution of unbelievers and the un- 
devout — two classes to which all Frenchmen were relegated with- 
out distinction by the priests. The eruption fortunately lasted 
only a few days, and had not such serious consequences as to 
make a very vivid impression on the imagination of the people. 
Lastly, the aid that the King hastened to send to those whose prop- 
erty had been injured by the eruption, counter-balanced the in- 
fluence exerted by the monks in an opposite direction. 

But although the tranquillity of Naples had remained undis- 
turbed, the Government found itself in a position of great diffi- 
culty. It had become absolutely necessary to obtain possession of 
Gaeta, which served as a refuge to all the ships of the enemy on 
the coast, and as a safe retreat for the bands of brigands, whose 
expeditions intercepted communications between Naples and the 
Papal States. The heavy artillery had arrived, and the siege had 
been begun on the 3d of July ; the cannonading, admirably 
directed by General Vallongue, who perished gloriously during the 
siege, produced a great effect, and encouraged us to hope for the 
speedy surrender of the place. Accounts from Calabria came, 
however, to disturb our satisfaction at this promising state of 
things. The English had landed, five or six thousand strong, be- 
tween Nicastro and Amato in the Gulf of St. Euphemia. General 
Regnier, who was occupying the heights commanding the river, 
made a mistake, it would seem, in coming down into the plain to 
attack them. The English took up a position with their rear to 
the sea, their flank being protected by their gun-boats, and wailed. 
Our troops advanced with their usual impetuosity, but were taken 
by surprise by an unexpected movement of the English ; the first 
line fell back in disorder on the second, which likewise gave way, 
and we were completely beaten. General Regnier retreated 
through the valley of Amato, to Catanzaro and thence to Cortona, 
abandoning the whole of Lower Calabria. As a sequel to this dis- 



4IO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



astrous engagement, a general insurrection broke out in both the 
Calabrian provinces. General Verdier, who was in command at 
Cosenza, was obHged to evacuate, not only that fortress, but the 
whole of Upper Calabria, and we received abundant proof that the 
favourable reception of us two months previously in that part of 
the country was due solely to the fear which the presence of our 
soldiery inspired. In addition to their troops of the line, the 
English had landed five or six hundred convicts from Sicily, on 
the coasts, and former chiefs of the ' * Masses, ' ' * such as Fra Dia- 
volo, Pandigrano, Carbone, and others, placed themselves at their 
head. These bandits kindled disturbance and sedition in the vil- 
lages on the coast of Amantea, and the mountains between Cosenza 
and Nicastro, and raised a rebellion throughout the country, 
which was put down eventually only by the most violent measures 
and with great bloodshed. 

Gaeta having surrendered on the i8th of July, after fifteen days' 
fighting in the trenches, and a most determined cannonading, the 
capitulation enabled the Government to despatch all the available 
troops to the two Calabrias, which had now become the centres of 
disturbance. Marshal Massena was placed at the head of the ex- 
pedition which was designed to reconquer the country, and to 
quell the insurrection. In a Cabinet Council held on the 24th of 
July, a sort of manifesto was read aloud to us by command of the 
King. It was drawn up by Salicetti, and was intended to regulate 
the policy of the Marshal on his advance into the country. Ac- 
cording to the provisions of this manifesto, the two Calabrias were 
declared to be in a state of rebellion ; the goods and chattels of 
the rebels were to be confiscated and sold for the benefit of those 
inhabitants who had remained faithful, and who were called by the 
name of patriots. Gibbets were to be erected, and the revolted 
villages were to be burned to the ground ; all these measures be- 
ing similar to those which had been taken by the Convention dur- 
ing the Vendean War. It was easy to see that they were ver)' dis- 
tasteful to the King ; but as their indispensable necessity had been 
represented to him with great exaggeration, he imagined himseli 
obliged to approve of them, and feared to show weakness by draw- 
ing back. He believed it his duty, therefore, to support these 
measures in the Council, and I perceived with regret that Sali- 
cetti, by working on his fears, had regained the ascendancy of 
which his conduct in the Rodiu affair should have deprived him 
for ever. 

* During the first French campaign in the Kingdom of Naples the 
name of Masses was given to the gatherings of peasants organized by 
Cardinal Rufifo. 



massena's commission. 411 

However, matters were not pushed as far as I had at first ap- 
prehended. A debate took place as to whether the manifesto 
should be made public, or should merely be handed over, confi- 
dentially, to Marshal Massena, as a guide for his conduct, and I 
seized the opportunity of endeavouring to secure that, if the spirit 
of the manifesto could not be abandoned, it might, at least, be 
modified. I pointed out that to keep it secret would be an act of 
cowardice, and would give rise to the idea that either the King 
could not venture publicly to acknowledge the severe measures 
that he judged to be necessary, or that those measures were taken 
by the Marshal against his will ; both suppositions being equally 
derogatory to the Royal dignity and character. My arguments 
prevailed, and so soon as the publication of the manifesto was 
resolved on, certain modifications were introduced, which, without 
interfering with the severity imposed by the necessities of the 
case, removed its objectionable characteristics. Lastly, and this 
was a still greater advantage, the King seemed resolved on return- 
ing to the Calabrias, where, there can be no doubt, his presence 
would have a salutary effect. The claims of Marshal Massena, 
who laid down conditions, as it were, before undertaking the ex- 
pedition, and who demanded more money and more soldiers than 
the Government was able to supply, had deeply annoyed the King, 
and he felt the need of escaping from the thraldom that the Mar- 
shal, who was in league with Salicetti, was endeavouring to impose 
on him ; perhaps, he also desired to diminish the influence of the 
latter over the Government. But he did not carry out his resolve 
with sufficient firmness. The King himself advanced no farther 
than the frontier of Upper Calabria, and after passing a few days 
alternately at Padula and Viotri, where he set up a camp of obser- 
vation, he returned to Naples about the 15th of August. Some at- 
tempts at landing by the English, which had added fresh bands of 
brigands to the neighbourhood of the capital, had been the cause 
of serious alarm, and seemed to call for the presence of the King. 
Marshal Massena therefore advanced into the Calabrias alone ; 
some villages were burned, and terror forced those parts of the 
country into which the French arms were carried, into submission. 
Cosenza and Catanzaro were re-taken, and the English, who were 
forced to give up the Gulf of St. Euphemia, returned to Sicily. 
Yet the country was not entirely subdued ; the insurrection, when 
quelled in one spot, would break out afresh in another, and 
although the Queen of Naples had kindled, from her retreat in 
Sicily, and English gold had fostered the rebellion, yet not to those 
causes alone must we attribute its existence. The death of Rodio, 
the arbitrary conduct of the generals, the absence of protection for 
the peaceable inhabitants, or of indulgence towards, those who had 



412 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

only momentarily swerved from their allegiance, a misplaced con- 
fidence in those " Nationals" who assumed the name of patriots, 
and were bent on revenge ; all these causes of suspicion and dis- 
turbance, and, above alL, the hopelessness^ of obtaining pardon, 
perpetuated feelings of resentment, and combined to make the 
ignorant and barbarous populace more than ever amenable to the 
monks, who zealously promoted political disturbances, and used 
religious fanaticism as a means to that end. 

While these calamities, which the complicated state of affairs and 
of public opinion rendered almost inevitable, were laying waste 
one of the most beautiful districts of the kingdom, the King, who 
was more securely settled at Naples than he had heretofore been, 
continued to devote himself to the task of government. He was 
carrying out the plans he had formed for the destruction of feudal- 
ity, and preparing the way for the partial suppression of some of 
the convents ; he was also meditating the institution of a new 
Order of Knighthood, intended to take the place of the suppressed 
Order of St. Januarius. He also gave his attention to the other 
branches of the administration, and particularly to public educa- 
tion, which was greatly improved. I assisted him in these bene- 
ficial changes, and M. Roederer, in his capacity of Finance Min- 
ister, obtained his sanction to an excellent scheme, by which the 
collection of local taxes,- long since unjustly alienated from the 
State and placed in the hands of the former barons, was recovered 
from them ; while they were amply indemnified by being made 
creditors of the State. All other State-trusts were subsequently 
treated in a similar way, and it is from this mode of payment that 
the Neapolitan 'Rentes,' which still enjoy considerable repute in 
Europe, derive their origin. But, as I have no intention of de- 
scribing these various steps in detail, I confine myself in this place 
to simply pointing them out, and stating that, on the whole, they 
were characterized by the judicious application of sound principles 
and by the strictest justice.* 

Although my time was usually engrossed by the duties of the 
ministry that had been entrusted to me, I took advantage of occa- 
sional leisure to make various excursions in the neighbourhood of 
Naples. I will linger awhile over those which made most impres- 
sion on me, and to which some slight interest may still attach. 
Among them is an excursion to Mount St. Angelo and a journey 
to Nola. 

* The reader who feels interested in the improvements made in the 
Neapolitan Administration during the reign of King Joseph, will find a 
description of them in my Account (rendered to the King on March 28, 
1808) of the state of the Kingdom of iVaples during the years 1 806 and 1 807, 
which was published at Naples in Italian and in French. 



QUI-SI-SANA. '413 



The King had taken up his abode at Qul-si-sana,^ a royal resi- 
dence above Castellamare. The woods around it afford deUcious 
shade in the burning heats of summer. The house is built in 
front of a mountain, which we climbed on the 17th of August, 
1806. The path is rough and rugged, but shaded to the very- 
summit by beautiful trees. It took us two hours and a half to 
reach the bare and rugged ridge which forms the apex of the 
mountain, whence we enjoyed a magnificent view. Beneath us 
lay the Bay of Naples, in its widest extent ; in the background 
was Vesuvius, and the rich plains stretching from the foot of the 
mountain unto the sea ; with Mount Posilippo (Virgil's tomb) ; 
the Islands of Procida and Ischia, and Cape Misena in the dis- 
tance. We overlooked at the same time Sorrento (the birthplace 
of Tasso), Vico, Castellamare, and the whole southern coast of the 
bay. But the summit on which we stood is not the highest point 
of the chain, and in order to reach it, a much higher and almost 
inaccessible peak must be climbed. A hermitage built on the sum- 
mit of this peak is called Mount St. Angelo, or Di ire pizzi.\ We 
undertook this ascent also, through the most splendid scenery. 
Magnificent trees, and picturesque masses of rocks formed charm- 
ing pictures at every step. At last, we reached the peak that was 
the object of our journey. From this point we had the same ad- 
mirable view, as from our first resting place, but of vaster extent. 
We could see, in addition, the Gulf of Salerno, the coast of Paestum, 
and in the distance the mountains of the Cilento. \ No words can 
describe the extreme beauty of the view. The air was clear, but 
very cold in the shade. We left this exquisite spot with regret ; 
it is far more remarkable than the Camaldoli visited by every trav- 
eller, but it is less frequented on account of the distance and the 
difficulty of the way thither. 

The Avhole mountain is of chalk formation, lying for the most 
part in horizontal strata. In some places the ground is covered 
with volcanic ashes, evidently cast there by the eruptions of Vesu- 
vius, for there is nothing volcanic in the formation of the moun- 
tain. We reached Qui-si-sana on our return by four o'clock p.m. 

A few days after this first excursion, I left Naples, to be present at 
some excavations in the neighbourhood of Nola. 

* " Qui-si-sana'* — Health is regained here. This name was given to 
the building on account of the salubrity of the air, which contributes to 
the speedy restoration of health when weakened by the heat of Naples. 

f " The three peaks'' which crown the mountain. That of St. Angelo is 
the loftiest. 

X A region of the province of Salerno, situated between Sela and 
Alento, is so called. Paestum and Velia, or Elea, which has given its 
name to a sect of philosophers in Cilento. 



414 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Four newly-discovered tombs were opened in my presence ; in 
each was a full-grown skeleton and a few vases ; but the latter 
were neither very large nor of fine workmanship ; and as the pro- 
cess of excavation is always the same, and has been very frequently 
described, I will not linger over that which I witnessed. 

The enjoyment I found in these excursions was of brief duration, 
and I was soon recalled to the cares of government. The state of 
public affairs was causing great disquiet. The impending war in 
the north between France and Prussia, the emissaries from the court 
of Palermo who were scattered throughout the country, and the 
money provided by England, had emboldened the bands of brig- 
ands, who often showed themselves in close proximity to Naples. 
Some of the Neapolitans who had accepted office under the new 
King took fright, and several of them resigned their posts and even 
quitted the kingdom lest they should be exposed to the vengeance 
of the former rulers, if the French were once more forced to re- 
linquish their conquest. In this precarious position, credit utterly 
disappeared ; the collection of taxes became more difficult than 
ever, and even had it been effected with regularity and complete- 
ness, it could not have sufficed to the needs of the State. The 
troops were therefore living haphazard, as it were, at the very gates 
of the capital. The most alarming rumours were in circulation, 
and were everywhere eagerly received. The Council of State, 
instituted by the King, far from helping him out of his difficulties, 
served rather to increase them. Its members, fearing to involve 
themselves more deeply, created fresh obstacles, and rejected every 
financial measure that was proposed as a means of escape from the 
crisis, without suggesting any others in their place. Their oppo- 
sition did- not spring from a wish to promote better measures than 
those under discussion ; they rejected everything indiscriminately ; 
they took pleasure in pointing out the defects in any given system, 
without seeking for a remedy, and restricted themselves to dis- 
crediting beforehand every measure taken by the Government. 
The King's intention, in forming that Council, was to convince 
the people that the resolutions he was obliged to take were need- 
ful, and by having them fully discussed by the principal men of 
the kingdom whom he had summoned to advise him, he had 
hoped, so to speak, to obtain advocates who would defend and 
support them in public opinion. From this point of view, the 
Council was a wise and politic institution ; but when the moment 
of danger came, art exactly contrary effect was produced. Imme- 
diately on the appearance of uncertainty in the future — and in our 
then position that uncertainty daily increased — the Council became 
merely an organized assembly of malcontents, and enemies of the 
Government. 



FINANCIAL EXPEDIENTS. 415 

Meanwhile the ">var that had just broken out in the north, on 
which our enemies had built their hopes, and which had ahenated 
so many timid councillors of State and officials from us and from 
French interests, was not turning out according to their expecta- 
tions. A campaign of a few days, the most prodigious successes, 
a victory on the field of Jena which annihilated the power of Prus- 
sia ; events so extraordinary and so unexpected, of which we heard 
in such rapid succession that at first the reports were received with 
incredulity, produced such a transformation that our discourage- 
ment was replaced by confidence. 

Our former adherents returned to us ; our enemies became 
divided among themselves ; the bands that infested the province of 
Lavore were pursued and defeated ; the island of Sora, an impor- 
tant position at the extremity of Lavore, was recovered from 
the bandit chief Fra Diavolo, who had seized upon it, and 
shortly afterwards he himself was captured. This fortunate train 
of circumstances gave fresh vigour to the Government, and though 
peace was not yet made, although there was still some danger of 
war with Russia, and the disturbances in Calabria were far from 
being quelled, yet the course of affairs became smoother. A few 
desirable administrative rules were debated and carried ; in short, 
the year 1806 came to a close under auspices sufficiently favourable 
to encourage the hope that we should be able to consolidate the 
new Government during the succeeding year. 

Our greatest difficulty was the state of the finances. At the be- 
ginning of 1807, we were four millions of ducats in arrears ; * the 
needs of the State amounted to 1,200,000 ducats per month, and 
our income barely reached to 600, 000. As it was impossible to 
supply these urgent needs from ordinary sources, the King resolved 
on sending General Cesar Berthier to the Emperor, to ask for a 
loan, and for a grant of a million per month, for the purpose of 
supplying part of the pay of the French army of occupation. At 
the same time that this measure was resorted to, another which had 
been some months in contemplation — that of suppressing a certain 
number of the monasteries — was carried out, and I must pause 
here for a moment, to explain the principles on which we acted in 
this latter operation which was both political and financial. 

The question was discussed in two private councils, held re- 
spectively on the 6th and the 17th of February, 1808. The Duke 
de Cassano, Minister for Ecclesiastical affairs, made a lengthy 
statement, in which he proposed the reform of three hundred and 
twenty-two convents, the revenues of which amounted to 444,000 

* Seventeen million of francs (;^68o,ocK)), reckoning the ducat at four 
francs, twenty-five centimes. 



4l6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ducats (about two million francs, ;f 80,000), the monks, whose 
houses were to be suppressed to be removed to those monasteries 
that remained. But in the draft of the decree he had inserted two 
articles, one of which restored to several orders the right of receiv- 
ing novices and of admitting to profession, and the other held out 
hopes of the same favour to those orders not included in the first 
provision, if by their behaviour and submission, they showed them- 
selves worthy of it. The whole thing, therefore, was reduced to a 
transaction, by which a tax was levied on the monks, and their 
existence was, as it were, confirmed afresh, as the price of the sac- 
rifices imposed on them at the moment. 

By this cunning evasion, M. de Cassano conciliated the view^s 
of the clergy, and particularly those of their head, the Archbishop 
of Tarento, who \vas alarmed at the blow that threatened the monk- 
ish militia. On the other hand, nothing could be more opposed 
to the interests of the King, and to public opinion. I raised my 
voice in protestation ; for such a transaction, in my opinion, in- 
volved a greater danger than would have resulted from total sup- 
pression. 

" If," said I, '* the state of our finances allowed us to dispense 
with the help that will be afforded by the sale of the monastic 
property, I should not hesitate to propose that we should postpone 
any action, whether favourable or unfavourable to the continued 
existence of the religious orders, and trust to time and experience 
for riper counsels. But time presses, an empty treasury needs an 
extraordinary remedy, and I know of none so practicable as this. 
Therefore, we must have recourse to it, and take some action, or 
we perish. Compelled, as we are, by necessity, it seems to me 
better to strike one decisive and immediate blow, than to take 
hesitating half-measures. To reform a certain number of monas- 
teries, to apply a portion of the revenues, or of the capital of the 
suppressed houses, to the public necessities, will excite, you may 
depend on it, as much discontent among the clergy, as the entire 
suppression of all, without gaining for the Government the support 
that would be obtained from sensible men, if the latter course were 
adopted. If, as I apprehend, the Council throws out M. de Cas- 
sano's proposal in favour of novices and professed subjects, there is" 
no probability that the device of suppressing a certain number of 
houses only will satisfy even those who are most easily satisfied. 
They will perceive that the decree gives them no guarantee for 
either their individual existence or for that of their order, and they 
will all perfectly understand that they have merely obtained a 
respite. 

*' This will greatly endanger the security of the State. The 
monks, full of resentment, that will be daily increased by the 



SPOLIATION. 417 



recollection of the past, and by regret for wealth that they have lost, 
will create hosts of enemies for us in the confessional. They will 
communicate to their docile penitents their own dislike of a Gov- 
ernment that has used them hardly, and which leaves even their 
present reduced condition in a state of uncertainty, and subject to 
the chances of further spoliation ! 

" On the other hypothesis, that of complete suppression, the 
discontent will be equal ; greater, if you will; but impotent. The 
monks will not only be stricken, but scattered. In private life, to 
which they must return, it will be easier to watch them, and if they 
seek to injure the Government, their influence will be less formida- 
ble, because it will be only personal, and they can be quietly re- 
moved without the need of publicity, which tells upon the popu- 
lace, by exciting the kind of interest always aroused by persecution, 
real or imaginary. Lastly, there will certainly be some few monks 
to whom the restoration of their liberty, through the suppression 
of the religious orders, will be agreeable, and these we shall have 
for friends rather than for enemies. 

" Thus, the political danger is less, the execution is more easy, 
the results greater ; the Government will gain strength by manifest- 
ing firmness and boldness, and by giving the semblance of a State 
measure to a financial operation. This is an advantage that ought 
never to be neglected, when it is of possible attainment." 

My arguments were approved by part of the Council ; but the 
question was adjourned, and we separated without having come to 
any decision. 

A few days later there was another meeting of the Council, and 
the proposed decree against the monks was again brought forward. 
The propositions of the Duke de Cassano were negatived, and 
after a long discussion it was agreed that total suppression should 
be decreed only against the orders which followed the rules of St. 
Benedict and St. Bernard as being those whose wealth would more 
abundantly replenish the exhausted treasury. Pensions were 
granted to the monks of the suppressed houses, and all had the 
option of joining the ranks of the secular clergy. This mode of 
action, preferable to that which had been proposed at first, had the 
advantage of lopping off entirely the two principal branches of the 
tree, and made the extirpation of the root more easy when the 
time for effecting it should come. In vain I opposed a certain 
provision of the new law by which the mendicant orders were in- 
vited to assume the posts of teachers in the elementary schools. 
Not only did the King fail to support my views, but he adopted a 
contrary view, and this difference of opinion brought about a sharp 
altercation between us. The provision in question seemed to me 
particularly offensive, especially when contained in an act which 



41 8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

suppressed the learned orders, to whom science is under such great 
obHgations. Moreover, the King's action in the matter was taken 
less from personal conviction than from suggestions emanating, at 
the time of which I speak, from Paris. Thefe was just then in 
France a marked animosity against what was called philosophy or 
liberalism, and an official fury against Rousseau, Voltaire, and the 
MTiters of the preceding century who had distinguished themselves 
by the independence or freedom of their opinions ; and as the 
papers in which they were attacked exclusively enjoyed the favour 
of the Government, they increased in number, and their influence 
under such protection could not fail to extend even to us. A 
settled intention to restore the former prejudices, the old errors, 
and all the dependence born of ignorance was manifest. " But," 
people would say to me, " it is impossible to deny that abuse and 
unseasonable application of principles drawn from the books that 
you defend, dragged us into an abyss of evil from which even now 
we are barely emerging. ' ' 

" I admit it," I repHed, " but are we to blame the principles 
themselves ? Are we, in order to govern, and to maintain peace 
throughout society, to plunge mankind into darkness once more ? 
Must we necessarily impose silence on our reason in order to en- 
sure tranquillity. I will never believe it ; the use of man's noblest 
attribute can never be inimical to his happiness. Consider, be- 
sides, though this retrograde doctrine may for the moment confirm 
the empire of him who governs France and almost governs Europe, 
what will it do in the future ? Does it not clearly tend to place 
France once more under the dominion of her former masters ? 
Does it not awaken regret at every instant in the hearts of those 
who contributed to the great changes that have taken place ? Does 
it not lead to giving glory and honour to those only who defended 
the old Monarchy of the Bourbons and who shed their blood for 
them ? And if the strength of him, for whom alone the writers of 
the day make any exception, retards for awhile the consequences 
of this teaching, there is nothing to guarantee his successors against 
its daily increasing influence. The edifice raised by his genius at 
so great a cost will crumble away at his death, because its founda- 
tions, which were laid in the Revolution, are constantly shaken and 
undermined by the condemnation of that Revolution, and of the 
opinions which produced it. 

" These consequences certainly do not escape the piercing 
,^lance of the Emperor ; but they apparently alarm him but little. 
I fear that he takes more pleasure in the thought of the posthu- 
mous glory he would acquire by the ruin and the evils that would 
follow on his death, than in that of the repose and happiness he 
could confer on France by moderation and deference to liberal 



THE king's perplexities. 419 

opinions ; that he is more anxious to be admired by posterity as 
an extraordinary man, the only one who could conceive and 
maintain so stupendous a fabric, than to be blessed as the founder 
of one less brilliant but more lasting." 

By arguments such as these, I endeavoured, in a conversation 
with the King on the i8th of February, to defend my opposition 
to the measure which entrusted the education of the young to the 
mendicant orders. Without disputing the justice of my remarks, 
the King thought me too extreme in my opinions, and accused me 
of looking at the gloomy side of everything. The result, however, 
has proved that I was right. 

Nevertheless, whether my remarks made some impression, or 
whether he felt the necessity of removing the Duke de Cassano, 
who, although he possessed many private virtues, was a dangerous 
counsellor because of his leaning in favour of priests in general, 
the King suddenly, and to the surprise of every one, made great 
changes in his Cabinet. The Ministry of Public Worship was 
abolished, and the Duke de Cassano was made Grand Huntsman ; 
General Dumas left the Ministry of War, which, strangely enough, 
was joined to that of Police, and M. Salicetti thus found himself 
at the head of the two most important departments. General 
Dumas received the post of Grand Marshal of the Palace. The 
place of Master of the King's Household, which had been given to 
the Duke de Campo-Chiaro, was abolished, and the duties relat- 
ing to the Fine Arts and the Royal Manufactories, which apper- 
tained to it, were relegated to me in my capacity of Minister of 
the Interior. The other duties of the post, which related exclu- 
sively to the expenses of the King's household, and the adminis- 
tration of the Crown property, were confided to State Councillor 
M. Macedonio, who received the title of General Steward of the 
Household. The Duke de Campo-Chiaro was made ambassador 
to Holland. M. Roederer retained Finance, and Prince Pignatelli- 
Cerchiara the Navy ; the latter was also entrusted with Public 
Worship, and consequently with the execution of the law for the 
suppression of some of the religious orders. 

But only a few weeks after these arrangements, which were 
made public on the 15th of April, 1807, had been concluded, the 
King seemed to repent the mark of confidence he had bestowed 
on Salicetti, and sent for me early in the morning on the nth of 
May. Serious complaints had been made to him of the Commis- 
sary of Police at Castellamare, a creature of the Minister's, and 
turning his displeasure against the patron of this man, the King 
wanted to dismiss M. Salicetti from Naples. Although his anger 
was righteous and that I could but approve it, I opposed with all 
"my might the step that the King purposed to ^ake. It appeared 



420 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to me that it would place him in an unfavourable light. To be- 
stow on a man the most striking mark of confidence, to entrust 
him to two State departments, and on the following day to take 
both away from him, without being able to explain the cause of so 
sudden a disgrace, must have seemed mere caprice and inconsis- 
tency in the eyes of the public. I laid this before the King, and 
succeeded in appeasing him. I should not have recommended 
Salicetti for posts of such importance had my opinion been asked 
beforehand, but now that they had been conferred on him, it 
seemed to me more objectionable to take them suddenly away, 
than to let him retain them, more especially as it was impossible 
to deny that he had the necessary abilities for the suitable dis- 
charge of both orders' of duties. Things remained therefore as 
they were. I may even say that from this time, the Government 
assumed a firmer attitude. The finances improved under M. 
Roederer, and a grant of 500,000 francs (^20,000) per month 
from the Emperor to assist in paying the French troops, rendered 
the condition of the Treasury less precarious. Affairs in Calabria 
also were less gloomy ; in the latter part of May, General Regnier 
defeated an army corps of Sicilian troops, under the command of 
General the Prince of Hesse-Philippsthal, and as a consequence 
of this success re-entered Reggio. Lastly, the Emperor's victories 
in the North, the reduction of Dantzic, the battle of Friedland, 
gained by us, and the peace of Tilsit, by which the negotiations 
opened after that battle were concluded, contributed greatly to the 
improvement of our position. We had scarcely anything to fear 
from open attack, the English and Sicilian troops seemed to have 
left off harassing us, and although, while open warfare had been 
given up, secret enmity was more active than ever, and Queen 
Caroline's agents travelled through the provinces, endeavouring to 
incite them to revolt, the tranquillity of the capital and of the 
principal towns in the kingdom was not seriously disturbed. The 
police having arrested some important persons involved in a con- 
spiracy which was to be carried into execution on the feast of 
Corpus Christi, the ceremonies and procession at which the King 
was present in great pomp, passed in perfect quiet A popular 
tumult at Naples on the ist of June, on the occasion of the execu- 
tion of two men who had been condemned to death, lasted but a 
moment, and was quelled all the more easily that it was in no wise 
a political movement, but was caused by the absence of the usual 
military precautions on such occasions ; these the commandant of 
the place had omitted to take. 

Thus, towards the middle of 1807, the country was, on the 
whole, quiet and submissive. Several journeys successively made 
by the King in the provinces of Ixcce and tlie Abruzzi, the pru- 



THE PEACE OF TILSIT. 421 

dence of his conduct on those occasions, his righteous severity 
towards some officials of whom well-founded complaints had been 
made to him during his progress, his affability of manner, and, 
above all, the strict justice with which he acted in all administra- 
tive measures, obtained for him, if not real regard, at least the 
esteem and respect of the inhabitants among whom he travelled. 

This improvement in the state of affairs, and the more favour- 
able attitude of the people, who were now beginning to be recon- 
ciled to the new order of things, enabled the King to turn his 
thoughts, on his return to Naples, to the encouragement of the 
arts and sciences, and especially to the embellishment of the capi- 
tal. My labours were increased, but became very pleasant. The 
public works, the special schools of painting and architecture, the 
libraries and museums that were under my charge, gave me fre- 
quent opportunities of indulging my tastes for the various branches 
of human knowledge that I had endeavoured to cultivate. I was 
enabled to assist some artists, and to promote the wishes of scien- 
tific and distinguished men, who are to be found in far greater 
numbers at Naples than is generally believed. The streets and 
the beautiful promenades of the capital were thoroughly repaired. 
A new road to Capo di Monte, leading from thence to the high 
road from Rome to Naples, was opened and made practicable. 
The King passed over it for the first time on the 15 th of August, 
1807, the fete day of the Emperor, which was marked both by the 
inauguration of the new road,* and by the celebration of the peace 
of Tilsit, of which we had been informed a few days before. 

* The following inscription was placed at the entrance of a tunnel that 
had been opened in the mountain in order to afford a passage for the 
road. This tunnel had been pierced with great difficulty, 

JOSEPHUS NAPOLEO 

Rex utriusque Sicilise 

qua novus ad mediam urbem 

a Gallia pateret aditus 

viam 

magnitudine operis usque intentatam 

qua depresso qua effosso monte 

fecit 

eamque auspicatissima die 

quum magni Napoleonis 

Galliarum Imperatoris Italiae Regis 

armis et virtuie 

pax gentibus data 

publicis ludis celebraretur 

De augusti fratris nomine 

Napoleoniam nuncupavit 

Postridie Idibus Sextilis a. CICDCCCVII 

Regni sui II. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The solemnity of the miracle of St. Januarius — King Joseph being sum- 
moned to an interview with Napoleon at Venice proceeds thither and 
learns that the Emperor intends him for the throne of Spain — Joseph 
agrees to his brother's project — Attempted assassination of Salicetti the 
Minister of Police — The island of Corfu is revictualled by a squadron 
under Admiral Ganteaume — Sensation produced at Naples by the dis- 
play of a French Naval force — Arrival of Queen Julia — The King sets 
out to join the Emperor at Bayonne — Before relinquishing the throne 
of Naples, he institutes a new order of Knighthood, instead of that of 
St. Januarius, founds a Royal Society of Science and Literature, and 
gives a Constitutional Statute to the Kingdom — Joseph abdicates the 
throne of Naples, to which the Grand Duke of Berg is raised by the 
Emperor, under the name of Joachim Napoleon — The Author leaves 
Naples to follow King Joseph to Spain — He stays in Rome, where the 
rupture between Napoleon and the Pope is the cause of hostile meas- 
ures — At Lyons he meets King Murat on his way to take possession of 
the throne of Naples — Melancholy account given by that prince of the 
state of affairs in Spain — He at last joins King Joseph at Miranda de 
Ebro — Appendix : Letter from Rome on the rupture between the Pope 
and the Emperor — Secret instructions given by the Holy See. 

I BECAME more exclusively occupied than ever with those duties 
■which I found such pleasure in discharging, and I looked upon 
the short interval in which I exercised them as one of the happiest 
periods of my life. I gave myself up to them entirely, and found 
no difficult}'' in doing so. I visited again with revived interest all 
the works of art and the national establishments, not for the pur- 
pose of satisfying an idle curiosity, but with the desire and the 
hope of contributing to their maintenance and improvement. I 
cannot, however, record, in this place, the result of my obser\'a- 
tion of the manners and genius of the people. My stay at Naples 
was too brief to enable me to do so with success ; moreover the 
political changes that have since taken place in the country would 
render them at the present time both valueless and obsolete. But 
I must not omit all description of the celebrated miracle of the 
liquefaction of the blood of St Januarius, at which I was officially 
present in my capacity of Minister of the Interior, and in that of 
head of the municipal administration of Naples. 

The miracle usually takes place during the octave of the Saint's 
feast, which occurs on September 17. In 1807 it took place on 



ST. JANUARIUS. 423 



the 24th of the tnonth.* I was received in an apartment of the 
Archiepiscopal palace, where I found the President and the mem- 
bers of the Naples Senate, as the municipal body is designated, 
and attended by this retinue I proceeded to the magnificent chapel 
of St. Januarius, which forms part of the Metropolitan Church, f 
We took our places on the altar-steps in a sort of enclosure, divid- 
ed by a balustrade from the rest of the chapel, which was crowded 
with people, and especially with women. Immediately afterwards 
the ceremony commenced. 

A deep recess in the wall behind the altar contains the relics of 
St. Januarius ; these consist of a silver-gilt shrine, shaped like a 
bust, in which are placed the skull-bones of the saint, and of a 
kind of remonstrance also of silver gilt, in which is set, between 
two crystals, a vial, containing a red substance asserted to be 
coagulated blood, collected, according to tradition, when the Saint 
suffered martyrdom by decapitation, and which certainly has all 
the appearance of blood. The closed recess is secured by three 
locks. The keys are deposited with the various civil and religious 
authorities. The President of the Senate keeps one, the Dean of 
the Chapter another, and the third is, I believe, in the custody of 
the Archbishop of Naples, or, in his absence, in that of the Grand 
Vicar. On the recess being opened, a surpliced Canon brought 
out first the remonstrance, and after showing to the people that the 
substance it contained was coagulated, and saying aloud — // sangue 
e duro, he placed the relic on a silver pedestal, ready prepared for 
it on the Epistle side of the altar. He then brought out the bust 
of the saint, and placed it on another pedestal on the Gospel side. 
The bust was stripped of some simple decorations in the shape of 
a mitre and a sort of cope in common material, and others were 
substituted of the same kind, but much more magnificent, em- 
broidered in gold and silver and adorned with precious stones. A 
splendid golden collar was hung round the neck. This had been 
presented by the new King to the Chapel of St. Januarius. Lastly, 
two bouquets of roses were fastened, one on each side of the 
breast. 

^^, This ceremony being completed, the officiating Canon advanced 
to the Epistle side, took up the remonstrance containing the vial 
and turned it towards the shrine of the Saint, without, however, 
bringing the two in contact. It is at that moment and in conse- 
quence of that proximity, that the blood ought to liquefy and the 
miracle be accomplished. But as the prodigy does not occur in- 
stantaneously, the hour is noted at which these two sets of relics 

* The miracle is repeated also in May and December. 

t This church, like many others in Italy, is better known as the Duomo. 



424 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

are brought together, and fatal or favourable inductions are made 
according to the greater or less interval before the liquefaction 
takes place. During this time Litanies are sung by the choir, in 
which those present join, while the women implore the Saint to 
work the miracle. 

Meanwhile the priest who holds the remonstrance moves it from 
time to time, pausing to see whether any change is taking place, 
and if he perceives none, he advances towards the people, and 
showing them the relic, he repeats sadly E duro. I remarked that 
he did this three different times without success, and that each 
time prayers recommenced with redoubled fervour. At length, 
the fourth time, after a pause of sixteen minutes, the miracle took 
place. I was near the Canon, and I perceived the substance begin 
to detach itself from the sides of the glass, then slowly drop, and 
spread so as to fill a greater space, i.e. nearly the whole bottle, 
which appears half empty when the matter it contains is in a solid 
form. 

At the moment of the miracle, tears, sighs, and sobs succeeded 
to the cries of those present. I remarked women, who during the 
ceremony had been in a sort of convulsive delirium, burst into 
tears and throw themselves on their knees with every sign of devo- 
tion ; others cast themselves on the ground and struck the pave- 
ment with their foreheads ; each one, in short, expressed in her 
own way the reverence which she felt. Many of those present 
kissed the remonstrance which the officiating priest held out to 
them for that purpose, after which he put it back on its pedestal, 
where it remained exposed for the rest of the day. 

While I was dividing my time between the duties of my post 
and the study of the customs of the country, and at the very 
moment that a happy future seemed awaiting me, events taking 
place at a long distance were destined to remove me from occupa- 
tions that I cherished, and to cast me once more into the midst 
of trouble and disturbance. Towards the end of November, the 
King received a letter from the Emperor telling him he wished to 
see him at Venice, whither he intended to proceed on the 2d of 
December. The King set out on the 28th of November, and the 
interview that followed altered his whole destiny. After the Peace 
of Tilsit, the Emperor, having reached the utmost height of power, 
and having contracted engagements with the Emperor Alexander, 
his admirer and emulator, the actual purpose of which was the 
division of the world between those two potentates, turned his 
thoughts towards Spain, where the endeavours of the Prince of the 
Asturias to overthrow the Prince of the Peace, and the dissensions 
in the Royal family, furnished a favourable opportunity for the 
furtherance of the plans that had been arranged on the Niemen. 



FINAL EFFORTS. 425 



He unfolded these gigantic projects to his brother and admitted 
him to a participation in them. He represented the throne of 
Charles V. as more noble and more important than that of Naples. 
Spain was the second monarchy in Europe, now that France had 
taken the first rank ; could he let it fall into other hands ? The 
Emperor of Russia had already agreed, and Napoleon advised his 
brother to send a confidential agent to St. Petersburg, as the bearer 
of friendly messages, and thus to inaugurate an alliance which 
their common interests would soon cement. So dazzling a pros- 
pect, designs so vast, the apparent glory that would bs attained by 
participating in them, their almost infallible success, could not fail 
to fascinate Joseph and set fire to his ambition. Moreover, it 
would have been no easy task for him to resist a will so strong as 
that of the Emperor. He yielded, therefore ; and the arrange- 
ments which in the following year were carried out in Spain, and 
whose fatal consequences gave the first blow to the marvellous 
prosperity that was astonishing the world, were agreed upon at 
Venice. After despatching Colonel Marie, one of his aides-de- 
camp, to Russia, where he was received with great honour, the 
King returned to Naples, and from that time looked upon himself 
as only a temporary occupant of the Two Sicilies. But as the ut- 
most secrecy was to be preserved until the moment of executing 
the new projects, he announced the approaching arrival of the 
Queen, his wife, in order to baffle any suspicions to which the in- 
terview at Venice might have given rise. 

Such was our position in Naples at the close of 1807. I was 
informed by the King, in confidence, of the impending change ; 
and, although I resolved on accompanying him to the country 
over which he was soon to be called upon to reign, I could not 
without deep regret give up all the plans I had formed, and the 
hopes I had conceived for the improvement of the institutions that 
we had founded. Yet, although my zeal was cooled, it was not 
utterly extinguished. Above all, I felt it incumbent on me to 
leave proofs of the efforts we had made, in the midst of all kinds 
of difficulty, to improve the administration of the kingdom of 
Naples. It was principally with this view that I drew up an ac- 
count of the situation of the country, and presented it to the King 
on the 28th of March, 1808. I think this authentic document 
ought to suffice to clear the reign of Joseph Napoleon from the 
unjust aspersions of certain travellers, who have too readily believed 
the lying assertions of his enemies, and those especially of the 
Archbishop of Tarento (Capocelatre), a clever man, but not a first- 
rate administrator, who could not forgive us the suppression of the 
monasteries. 

Iwill not dilate on this subject, but will resume my narrative 



426 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of the events that took place between the King's return from Ven- 
ice and his departure from Naples. The most noteworthy event 
of that period was the attempted assassination of M. Salicetti. 

On the 31st of January, i8o8, I was awakened very early with 
the news that part of the house occupied by the Minister of Police 
had fallen down in the night. I thought at first, that it was a 
mere accident occasioned by faulty construction, or the omission of 
needful repairs after the last earthquake, w-hich had injured some 
of the buildings in the town. But a report soon got about that 
the house had been blown up by an explosion. I repaired to the 
scene with INI. Roederer, and on making an examination of the 
ruins, I could no longer doubt that they were the result of a sub- 
terranean explosion. The following are the particulars. 

M. Salicetti returned home an hour after midnight. He had 
scarcely entered his room, when he felt a sudden movement and 
heard the fall of part of his house. He thought at first that both 
were the result of an earthquake. He hastened to the apartment 
of his daughter, recently married to the Duke of Laviello ; but the 
three stories of the wing in which she resided were already on the 
ground. He heard the duchess's voice, and in rushing towards 
her received severe contusions on his head and legs. At length, 
with the help of some servants, he succeeded in extricating her 
from beneath five or six feet of rubbish, under which she had 
been buried for more than a quarter of an hour. By a strange 
chance, her husband, who was beside her, was flung from his 
bed, and found himself, unhurt, in the middle of the courtyard. 

A committee appointed by the King, and consisting of General 
Campredon, commanding the Engineers, General Dedon, Com- 
mandant 'of Artillery, and three architects, was directed to inquire 
into and to report on the causes of the catastrophe. Their report 
proved beyond all doubt that it was to be attributed to the ex- 
plosion of a considerable quantity of compressed gunpowder. 
Fuses were found, and cords, and a kind of wicker basket which 
had contained the powder ; and from the indications it was con- 
cluded that the authors of the crime had employed one of the 
machines contained in boats called catamarans which the English 
had made use of before Boulogne. We learned afterwards that 
the machine had been brought from Sicily in a barque that had 
put in at Chiaja, opposite Salicetti' s house, and that it had been 
deposited in a cellar belonging to a Neapolitan apothecary who 
had formerly lodged in a room of that house and who was allowed 
the privilege of retaining it. This man's sons had been implicated 
in the conspiracy that was to have taken effect on Corpus Christi 
in the preceding year, and it was probably they who contrived 
that the machine should be placed under, the house. After setting 



A FRENCH SQUADRON. 42/ 

fire to a slow matcli, tlie criminals had had time to escape to their 
boat and to make off. * Other things which came out by degrees 
proved the facts so clearly, that many persons who at first had in- 
sinuated that the occurrence was a mere accident, and that the 
Minister, to increase his own importance, had represented it as 
the result of a conspiracy, were forced to relinquish that malicious 
interpretation. 

In the course of the day I saw M. Salicetti, who informed me 
that the attempt to which he had so nearly fallen a victim, was to 
be attributed to causes still more serious than had been supposed. 
The island of Capri, since it had fallen into the hands of the Eng- 
lish, was the headquarters of emissaries sent out from Sicily. On 
that island plots were concocted with a more important purpose 
than mere revenge against an individual, whose death would be of 
too little importance to be the only object of the conspiracy. He 
believed that he now held the clue to a much vaster plan, of which 
the catastrophe of the past night was but a very small part. A 
portion of the design of these secret enemies was to get possession 
of Fort St. Elmo, and by so doing to create a great commotion. 
Even if the disturbance produced no definite political result, it 
would at least afford an opportunity of gratifying both private ani- 
mosities and Queen Caroline's hatred of the French, which was 
only to be slaked with their blood. 

There was no exaggeration in this alarm, and plots of a similar 
nature to that which had just failed were formed from time to time. 
But they were all abortive. The danger which M. Salicetti had 
incurred, served as a warning against those that threatened the 
palace and even the person of the King. Precautionary measures 
were taken, and a few acts of severity put an end to these evil 
projects. 

In the beginning of March, 1808, the arrival of a French squad- 
ron in the Adriatic, and the Emperor's designs on the Ionian 
Islands, served to divert our thoughts from the alarm caused by 
the machinations of our enemies. The squadron, under the com- 
mand of Admiral Ganteaume, brought provisions to Corfu, and 
also the means of putting the island into a state of defence. This 
successful expedition, in which the French admiral displayed great 
skill in eluding the vigilance of the English, created an immense 
sensation in the kingdom of Naples by the unexpected display of 
a naval force that no one suspected us of possessing, and produced 

* These various facts were proved at the trial which was only con- 
cluded in the beginning of June. The apothecary, whose name was Vis- 
cardi, and his son, agents of Queen Caroline, were proved to be the per- 
petrators of the crime. The judgment, which was pronounced on June 
10, condemned six of their accomplices to death. 



428 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

a greater effect than four victories on the Continent. Our suc- 
cesses on land were so unvarying that they no longer made any 
impression. The Emperor attached much importance to the 
possession of Corfu, and wrote in the following remarkable terms 
to his brother. " Remember that, in the present state ol Europe, 
the possession of Corfu is of the highest importance to me, and 
that its loss would strike a mortal and irreparable blow at my de- 
signs." Those designs, which were comprised in the secret pro- 
ject agreed on between Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, were 
admirably assisted by King Joseph's active participation in the re- 
victualling of the island by way of Tarento and Otranto. 

Shortly after these events, the Queen, who had left Paris on the 
13th of March, 1808, arrived on the 3d of April, at Naples. Her 
presence, like the appearance of the French ships in the Ionian 
Sea, produced a beneficial influence on the public mind. It was 
regarded as a pledge of safety for the future, and those among the 
Neapolitans who had attached themselves to the new sovereign, im- 
agined themselves for ever screened from the vengeance of the 
party which they had forsaken to associate themselves with ours. 
The Queen, too, by her very dignified behaviour, her prudence 
and her affability towards the ladies of the highest families who 
eagerly sought for the honour of belonging to her Court, won uni- 
versal esteem and affection. The commencement of this new 
reign was looked upon with pleasure : the prejudices at first enter- 
tained against us, were beginning to fade away, and a few inter- 
marriages that took place, brought about a better feeling between 
the two nations. 

I was not destined long to enjoy the advantages conferred by 
this new- state of things on those who, like myself, were attached 
to the fortunes of King Joseph. Events were hurraing on in 
Spain ; the Emperor was preparing to set out for Bayonne, and 
every moment we expected a summons for his brother to join him 
at that place. We had not to wait long. On the 21st of May the 
King received letters from the Emperor, urging his immediate de- 
parture. He directed him to leave the command of the army with 
Marshal Jourdan,* and to appoint a regency. But the latter in- 
structions were not carried out : the King would by no means 
give up supreme authority, nor quit the throne of Naples, before 
he was put in possession of that of Spain. No Council was ap- 
pointed therefore, and the Ministers continued to attend separately 
to the duties of their departments, and to submit their business to 

* It was about a year since Marshal Jourdan had been sent to Naples 
as Governor of the town. Marshal Massena had returned to France, and 
General Regnier had succeeded to the command of the troops in Cala- 
bria. 



A CONSTITUTION FOR NAPLES. 429 

the King by letter.- The progress of affairs was not accelerated by 
this extraordinary state of things, but it lasted so short a time that 
the inconvenience resulting from it was hardly perceptible. 

The King left Naples on the 24th of May, and his departure 
occasioned something like consternation. Although he had given 
it to be understood that he had only gone to have a second interview 
with the Emperor, and that he would return almost immediately, 
no one was deceived ; and from that moment, ' more anxiety was 
felt regarding his successor, and the means of propitiating him, 
than about the King whom the Neapolitans were losing. How- 
ever, as Joseph had reserved the exercise of power to himself, and 
that favours might still be expected from him, they did not display 
utter indifference, and he might have imagined himself regretted. 

Some time before his departure he had carried out his intention 
of founding a new order of Knighthood, instead of that of St. Jan- 
uarius, which he had abolished, but the nominations to it had not 
yet been made. He despatched these from Bayonne, whither he 
had arrived on the 7th of June. He had also founded, in imita- 
tion of the Institute of France, a Royal Society of Science and 
Literature which I was directed to inaugurate. He had designated 
the most distinguished men of the Kingdom for the principal chairs 
of the Academies into which the Society was divided, and his selec- 
tion was generally approved. Lastly, before relinquishing the 
throne of Naples, he gave the kingdom a charter, or constitution, 
the provisions of which were to regulate the future administration 
of the country. This reached Naples on the ist of July. An 
extraordinary Council of State was convened to hear it read, and 
to register it as a law of the State. The meeting took place on the 
2d of July. I and the other Ministers were present, the Minister 
of Justice presided. A letter from the King to the Council of State 
in which he expressed his regret at having been unable to consult 
the Council on the draft of the Constitution that he was giving to 
the Nation, was first laid before us. But he affirmed that they 
would find in the draft only the application of principles he had 
often expressed in their presence, and to which all the members of 
the Council had already given their assent. The Act was then 
read aloud. 

This " Constitutional Statute," as the Act was designated, was 
partly based upon the Constitutional system of France and partly 
upon that of Italy, but more particularly upon the latter, and the 
few alterations that had been made were in no way favourable to 
liberal ideas. The hand of the Emperor, under whose influence 
it had been drawn up, was apparent in every line. His increasing 
leaning towards feudal institutions, the aversion he no longer sought 
to disguise towards everything that could strengthen the liberty of 



430 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the people, and the political independence of citizens, were plainly- 
perceptible. National representation, as organized by the Consti- 
tutional Statute of Naples, was even more vitiated and illusory than 
in the two systems from which it had been borrowed. It consisted 
in one Chamber divided into five sections : the clergy, the nobility, 
the landowners, men of science and merchants. These sections 
were equal as to number, but they were far from having equal 
rights. The deputies from the nobility, the clergy and the learned 
bodies were irremovable, while the deputies from the two other 
classes, the landowners and merchants, were removable. However, 
as not the slightest attempt was made in the ensuing reign to carry 
out this improvised Constitution, it is unnecessary to enter into 
further particulars concerning it. I thought it well to say a few 
words on the subject, as it was an indication of the political prin- 
ciples adopted by the Emperor, and carried out by him everywhere 
within the limits of his power. The concession of a charter, on 
which the King had reckoned in order to gain the gratitude of the 
Neapolitan nation, failed altogether to produce that effect. 

It benefited nobody, and, as it is well known that heirs seldom 
show much respect to the wills of those from whom they derive 
their inheritance, this Act was in general regarded as a piece of 
political bombast, uttered with a view to effect, and from which 
neither good nor evil was to be expected. Thus, laying aside 
political theories, the people devoted themselves to two objects 
only : one making the most of the kind-heartedness of the King 
who was leaving them, to obtain from him favours that he still had 
the power to grant, the other, the discovering as soon as possible 
who was to be his successor, in order to conciliate him in his turn. 
It had been officially notified on the 20th of July, that King 
Joseph had abdicated the crown of Naples on the 8th oi that month, 
and Queen Julia had set out for France, even before the intelli- 
gence reached Naples. But it was not immediately known who 
was to be Joseph's successor. Rumours of the most extraordinary 
kind were in circulation. It was affirmed that Murat, who ap- 
peared the most probable candidate, was in a state of mental de- 
rangement that rendered him incapable of reigning. It was said 
that the Imperial family was divided and at variance on the ques- 
tion : that the l^m})ress wanted the crown of Naples for her son 
Kugene, and that the King of Westphalia laid claim to it, as being 
more illustrious than his own. It was added that the Emperor's 
mother had asked for the throne of Naples for Lucien, the only 
one of her sons who had not yet obtained a crown. 

All uncertainty was terminated on the 31st of July, by the arrival 
of a courier, who had been impatiently expected for several days. 
A Ministerial Council assembled on the same day at eight in the 



THE DEPARTING KING. 43 1 

evening, under the presidency of the Minister of Justice. The fol- 
lowing documents were read aloud. 

1. A Constitutional Statute by which the Emperor bestowed the 
Kingdom of Naples on the Grand Duke of Berg, and regulated 
the succession in the order of primogeniture, with, however, one 
remarkable provision : the Queen (Caroline Bonaparte, sister to 
the Emperor) was to ascend the throne, and reign in her own 
right, if she survived her husband and her male children. 

2. A proclamation from the new King, who would take posses- 
sion of the kingdom on the ist of August. 

3. A letter from King Joachim Napoleon to the Ministers, con- 
firming them in their posts. 

A Te Deum, illuminations, and salvoes of artillery, were ordered 
for the next day, according to custom. 

This Council was the last occasion on which I exercised the pub- 
lic duties of my post at Naples. I had resolved on following the 
fortunes of King Joseph, who had offered me the place of Superin- 
tendent of his household, and I accordingly sent in my resignation 
as Minister of the Interior, and prepared to set out for Spain.* 

I began my journey on the nth of August, 1808, a few days 
after the marriage of my daughter to Colonel Jamin, in command 
of the King's Light Cavalry. He was to join us in Spain at the 
head of part of these troops, which in the sequel, passed over to 
the service of Joseph as King of Spain. Some regret was expressed 
at my departure, but probably with more politeness than sincerity. 
I remained in Rome a few days. I again explored the city, and 
made some excursions in the environs, among others, one to 
Tivoli, which I had not visited on previous occasions. I saw Gen- 
eral Mioilis, in command of the French troops ; his position was 
every day becoming more difficult, on account of the rupture that 
had just occurred between the Emperor and the Holy See. This 
quarrel was followed by the union of the provinces of Ancona, 
tJrbino, Macerata and Camerina,f to the kingdom of Italy, and 

* On leaving Naples, the King had conferred on me the title of Count 
of Melito, which the Emperor confirmed by letters patent, which were 
despatched to me, in order to raise me to the dignity of Count of the 
Empire. 

f The decree declaring the above union bears date St. Cloud, April 2, 
1S08. The preamble is remarkable, and I insert it here, because I be- 
lieve it has never been published. 

" Napoleon, etc., considering that the temporal Sovereign of Rome has 
constantly refused to make war on the English, and to ally himself with 
the Kings of Italy and Naples for the defence of the Italian peninsula ; 

" Considering that the interests of the two kingdoms and of the armies 
of Italy and Naples require that communications between thera should 
not be intercepted by a hostile power ; 



43- MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Pope, having in retaliation declared several articles of the Civil 
Code * to be incompatible with the Canons of the Roman Church, 
and forbidden all Catholics to receive them, ended by excommuni- 
cating the Emperor himself. The animosity and irritation of these 
two Powers had reached the highest pitch. It was easy, therefore, 
even now to foresee the violence with which Napoleon a short time 
afterwards treated the Pontiff, whom he forced to leave Rome and 
remove to Savona. From this period began the embarrassment 
and the difficulties brought on the Emperor by the Concordat of 
1802. By forcing the Pope to come and consecrate him in Paris, 
he had by no means obtained a religious guarantee for his crown ; 
but, on the contrary, had restored to the Holy See a portion of its 
former rights over princes, and had authorized the renewal of its 
claims. No prince, certainly, was better adapted by character and 
boldness to force his yoke on a Pope than Napoleon ; and never- 
theless Pius VII. was his most terrible adversary and was not con- 
quered by him. The decadence of his empire dates from his 
quarrels with the Pontiff. The priests whom he had re-established 
in France did not hesitate for an instant between him and the 
Pope, and even in his own family, the kinsman who through him 
had been raised to the Cardinalate, declared against him. 

I left my family at Rome : they could not follow me to Spain, 
until I had prepared an establishment for them, and I resumed my 
journey thither on the 17th of August. I made no halt except at 
Lyons, where I met the new King of Naples on his way to take 
possession of the crown that had just been conferred on him. In 
the course of a long conversation he gave me a very alarming 
account of the state of Spain, which he had just left. It was from 
him that I -heard of the lost battle of Baylen, of the defeat and cap- 
ture of General Dupont, who was in command of the French army 
on that fatal day, and finally of the departure of King Joseph from 
Madrid, he having been forced to leave the capital. Judging from 

" Considering that the gift of Charlemagne, our illustrious predecessor, 
of the lands which form the Papal States was made for the good of Chris- 
tendom and never for the advantage of the enemies of religion ; 

" Seeing that the ambassador from the Court of Rome asked for his 
passports, on the 8ih March last ; 

" We have decreed and do decree," etc. 

A decree of the same dale had ordered all cardinals, prelates, officials 
and employes of all kinds at the court of Rome, natives of the countries 
included in the kingdom of Italy, to return to that Kingdom on the 25th 
of May next following, and in the event of their disobedience, it declared 
the confiscation of their goods and property. 

* See in the Appendix to this chapter, No. i. a rather curious letter 
written to me on the subject from Rome, dated June 7, 1808. and No. 2, 
the secret instructions given to the subjects of the provinces united to 
Italy, by the decree of April 2. 



THE POPE. 433 



Murat's manner as he described all these things, I saw that he 
thought himself lucky to have escaped from Spain ; and in truth, 
the change was a clear gain for him, while to his predecessor on 
the throne of Naples and to all those who followed his fortunes it 
was a great loss. But it was too late for Joseph to retrace his steps, 
and all I could do was to arm myself with courage. After this 
interview therefore I continued my journey and reached Bayonne 
on the I St of September, 1808. Being unable to proceed farther 
without an escort, I was compelled to wait until the General in 
command of the town had assembled a convoy intended for Vittoria. 
I travelled with it, and rejoined King Joseph at Miranda de Ebro 
on the loth of September. 

I had at last reached Spain, the theatre of the unfortunate events 
that struck a mortal blow at the fortune of Napoleon and the pros- 
perity of France. As an eye-witness of these events, and having 
been admitted by the King' s friendship to the knowledge of some 
of the causes or blunders that produced them, I must, to render 
my explanation clear, retrace my steps awhile, and give a rapid 
sketch of the occurrences that had taken place at Bayonne, and in 
Spain, since I parted from the King at Naples, until the moment 
when I saw him again. This narrative is an exact resume of my 
conversations with the King, and with my friend Stanislas Girardin, 
who had accompanied him from Naples to Madrid. 



APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER. 



I. — A Letter written from Rome, Concerning certain Circi'm- 
stances relating to the rupture between the pope and the 
Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1808. 

Rome, June 7th, i8o3. 
Your Excellency will have noticed that in the note addressed by the 
Secretary of State to the Charge d'Affaires in Italy, the Pope openly 
and unreservedly condemned several Articles of our Civil Code. Nor 
did his Holiness confine himself to this violent act, to which our enemies 
had not hitherto succeeded in urging him : he has just addressed a circu- 
lar letter to the Bishops of the Marches, in which he solemnly declares 
that several provisions of the Code Napoleon, and particularly the laws 
relating to marriage and divorce, are contrary to the teachings of the 
Gospel, and that, consequently, they are not to act on them in their dio- 
ceses. This is a positive fact. I have not yet been able to obtain a 
copy of the circular, but I know that it bears the title of Instructions for 
the Bishops (Encyclica), although as yet it has only been sent to those of 
the Marches. It is drawn up in the form of the answers that in the 
early ages of the Church the Popes were accustomed to give to the 
Bishops, and that may be read at the present day in the collection of the 
Canon laws known under the name of Decretals. Thus his Holiness, by 
supposing himself to be inteirogated on the point, thinks to justify the 
silence he has hitherto kept concerning these alleged errors in the French 
legislation. The Pope has also renewed, in his own name, the Bulls of 
Clement XII. (Corsini) and Benedict XIV. (Lambertini). The bull I 
speak of must already be in print, and we are every day expecting its 
publication, which may perhaps produce an evil effect on the popular 
mind. 

Concealment is at an end. The Pope believes that he will never be 
personally attacked. He thinks it glorious to stand alone in his resist- 
ance to the will of his Imperial Majesty, and he misses no occasion of dis- 
playing his resentment against him. The partisans of the clerical gov- 
ernment make use of every possible means to excite the imaginations of 
the weak. "Spain," they say, "has rebelled ; Russia and Austria are 
beginning to fall out with France; Ferdinand IV., in his quality as a 
Spanish prince, is proceeding to America, in order to take possession of 
the states belonging to Spain in the New World ; he will be protected by 
the English, and even by the Republic of ihe United States. People 
want to overthrow the Catholic religion and destroy it ; Rome will be- 
come a miserable and desolate city," iS:c. 

Men of sense blame the Pope's conduct in this matter : it may bring 
down the greatest evils on mankind ; but the people behold with glad- 



APPENDIX. 435 



ness the persistence and obstinacy of the Holy Father, and listen greed- 
ily to all that is said for the purpose of deceiving them. 

The crisis, there is no doubt, is terrible. But what are the French au- 
thorities doing ? Scarcely anything. The General commanding-in-chief 
is afraid of compromising himself. He receives no orders from his Court, 
and has become more cautious than he was at first. A few seditious per- 
sons are arrested, but the police is out of order, or, to speak plainly, 
there is no police whatever. The tribunals do nothing, and all things 
here are in a state of anarchy, occasioned by a conflict between two rival 
and inimical powers.* 



n. — Secret Instructions given by the Holy See to the Subjects of 
THOSE Provinces of the Papal States that were United, by am 
Imperial Decree of April 2, 1808, to the Kingdom of Italy. 

^ I. — Non esser lecito, se mai venisse intimato dal governo intruso, di 
prestargli qualunque giuramento di fedelta, d'obbedienza e di attacamento 
espresso in termini illimitati e comprensivi di un fedelta ed approvazione 
pcsitiva, perche sarebbe un giuramento d'infedelta e fellonia al suo legit- 
timo sovrano, opponendosi alle proteste ed ai reclami fatti dal Papa per 
se e per la Chiesa contro una si notoria ingiustizia ; un giuramento di 
grave scandalo, favorendo un fatto che tornar non puo se non in periculum 
fidei et pernicietn animai'um ; un giuramento per ogni verso ingiusto, ini- 
quo e sacrilego. 

§ 2. — Non esser nemmeno lecito di accettare, e molto peggio di eserci- 
tare impieghi ed incumbenze che abbiano una tendenza piu o meno di- 
retta a riconoscere, a coadiuvare, a consolidare il nuovo governo nell' 
esercizio dell' usurpata podesta, giacche e evidente, non potersi cio fare, 
senza prendervi parte e farsene attore volontario. Che se, di piu tali im- 
pieghi ed incumbenze influessero direttamente all' esercizio di leggi ed 
ordinazioni contrarie ai principj ed alle leggi della Chiesa, molto piu 
colpevole ne sarebbe I'accettazione, essendo principio generale che non e 
lecito porsi e perse verare in uno stato quantunque necessario alia stessa 
sussistenza, incompatibile alia coscienza ed alia propria eterna salute. 

* M. Ortoll, the writer of the above letter, was a native of Corsica, where I had known 
him. He had studied at Pisa and at Rome, and was considered very learned in the Canon 
law. 

§ I. 
It is not lawful, if ever exacted by the usurping government, to take an oath of fidel- 
ity, of obedience or of attachment, expressed in unreserved terms, implying positive fidel- 
ity and approbation, because such an oath would be one of infidelity and of felony to the 
legitimate sovereign, and would be in opposition to the protests and claims made by the 
Pope, both in his own behalf and in that of the Church, against so crying an injustice ; it 
would be an oath giving great scandal, as approving of an act which can only lead Xo peri- 
culum fidei et perniciem animarum ; an oath in every way unjust, iniquitous, and sacri- 
legious. 

§ 2. 
It is unlawful for any one to receive, much more to discharge, the duties of any state 
or employment which would tend more or less directly to recognize, support or consolidate 
the new government in the exercise of the power it has usuipcd ; for it is evident that this 
could not be done without participating voluntarily in that usurpation. And if such duties 
and employments included an obligation of co-operating in the execution of laws and reg- 
ulations contrary to the principles and laws of the Church, it would be far more culpable 
to accept and exercise them, for it is a general principle that it is not allowable to continue 
in a position, however necessary it may be for material existence, that it is incompatible 
with conscience and eternal salvation. 



43^ 



MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



§ 3. — Non esser lecito ai vescovi ed agli altri pastori ed ecclesiastici di 
prestarci al canto dell' inno Te Deum, se mai v.enisse prescritto nello 
stabilimento del governo invasatore, Oltre di che non e di competenza 
della podesta laicale prescrivere di propria autorita pubbliche preghiere, 
in questo caso, all' incompetenza della podesta si unirebbe la manifesta 
incongruenza dell' oggetto che renderebbe un tal canto piuttosto insulto 
che un culto della religione, perciocche essendo ogni canto spirituale, e 
I'ambrosiano specialmenie, I'espressione del giubilo, ed essendo per cio 
questo dalla Chiesa riservato alle grande solennita cd all' occasioni di 
pubblica allegrezza, il contarlo in questa occasione sarebbe un manifes- 
tare o un mentire con un atto pubblico e sacro, un sentimento affatto con- 
trario a quello da qui esser debbono penetrati i buoni sudditi e figlj della 
Chiesa in un avvenimento funestissimo, preceduto, accompagnato e segu- 
ito da tante violenze ed ingiuste operazioni, quale sara il rovesciamento 
temporale della Chiesa e I'intrusione di un governo tanto piii a lei nem- 
ico in fatti quanto piii affetto colle parole d'esserne protettore ; in una 
parola, la rovina temporale e spirituale dello stato pontificio e lo scom- 
piglio di tutta la Chiesa Cattolica. 

§ 4. — Questa 6 la norma che S. S., dopo le piii serie riflessioni ed il 
pill maiuro esame, ha creduto di dovere prescrivere ai suoi amatissinii 
suddiii, verificandosi, come pur troppo in si gran parte si e verificata I'in- 
trusione del governo usurpatore ; la qual norma, sebene generale, non 
s^ra difficile applicare ai casi particolari, che non si possono tutti preve- 
dere. ^ da credere per altro, quanto ai giuramenti, che, avendo I'esperi- 
enza stessa mostrato ie consequenze funtste, eziandio alia pubblica tran- 
quillita, che suol produrre la violenta esazione di essi, non sia questa per 
usarsi coi sudditi pontifici ; onde non si abbiano a trovare nel pericoloso 
cimento, o, di mancare alia coscienzao d'incontrare gravi mali e pericoli. 

§ 5. — Ma potrebbe essere anche il contrario. Potrebbe il nuovo go- 

§ 3- 
It is not lawful for bishops and pastors and other ecclesiastics to consent to the singing 
of the Te Deum, if it should ever be ordered by the usurping government. In addition to 
the incompetency of the civil power to order public prayers by its own authority, there 
would be in such a case a manifest incongruity which would render the singing of that 
hymn rather an insult to religion than an act oi piety, because all hymns and especially 
this one of St. Ambrose being an expression of joy, and being therefore reserved by the 
Church for great feasts and for occasions of public rejoicing, to sing it would be to make a 
show of feelings incompatible with those that should fill the hearts of the faithful subjects 
and children of the Church, under the present evil circumstances that have been preceded, 
accompanied and followed by violence and injustice, such as the overthrow of the tempo- 
ral power of the Church, and the usurpation of a government all the more inimical to it, 
that it pretends to be its protector ; that aims, in a word, at the temporal and spiritual ruin 
of the Papal States and the overthrow of the whole Catholic Churcn. 

§ 4. 
Such are the instructions that His Holiness, after serious consideration and the most 
careful examination, has thought it his duty to deliver to his beloved subjects, if the intru- 
sion of the usurping government, already partly effected, becomes an accomplished fact. 
There will be no difficulty in applying these general rules to particular cases that it is im- 

Eossible to specify bcforenand. As regards the oaths, moreover, it is likely that experience 
aving proved the evil effect, even as regards public tranquillity, of the violent extortion of 
such, coercion will not be used on this point towards the Pontifical subjects ; who will not 
consequently find themselves under the dreadful alternative, of cither disobeying their 
conscience or of exposing tncmsclves to grave evils and dangers. 

S 5. 

Nevertheless, the contrary might be tho case. The new government, under pretext of 
ensuring its own security and the public tranquillity, might have recourse to violent measures. 
In that case, it is allowable, and does not contravene the aforesaid principles, to accept a 
formula of fidelity and passive obedience, that is, of submission and not opposition by which 
to guarantee the public safety and tranquillity ; because it is not lawful for private citizens. 



APPENDIX. 437 



verno colorire una si fatta violenza col protesto della sua sicurezza e della 
quiete pubblica ; nel qual caso puo al medesimo soddisfarsi senza contra- 
venire all' inconcussi principj di sopra stabiiiti, con una formola che ris- 
tringendosi alia fedelta ed obbedienza passiva, cio e di sottomissione e 
non opposizione, mentre garantisce la sicurezza e tranquillita pubblica, 
la quale, per i maggiori disordini e scandali che d' ordinario accadono, 
non e lecito ai privati di perturbare con fazioni e complotti non fa torto 
ne alia giustizia ne alia religione. Pertanto S. S. (riclamando pero essa 
sempre i diritti della Chiesa romana e del glorioso principe degl' apos- 
toli, e dichiarando altamente che la sua permissione alia sovranita ed alle 
ragioni che le competono) permette che i suoi sudditi ecclesiastici e 
secolari, qualora non possino esimersene senza grave pericolo e danno, 
prestino il giuramento nei seguenti termini : Promeito e giuro di non aver 
parte in qualsivoglla congiura, cotnplotio o sedizione contra il governo attuale, 
come pure di essejgli soitoinesso ed obbediente in tutto cib che non sia contraiio 
alia legge di Dio e della Chiesa. Se veramente il governo intruso non avia 
altra fine che il succennato, non potranon essere soddisfatto di questa for- 
mola. Se non sara soddisfatto, con questo segno dara chiaramente a 
devidere essere la mente sua di legare ed obbligare i sudditi del Papa con 
la religione del giuramento e renderli cosi complici della sacrilega usurpa- 
zione, dalla qualmente verrebbe ad essere determinato il senso malvaggio 
della formola da lui proposta probabilmente in termini subdoli ed am- 
bigui. Tanto piii poi cio farassi chiaro ed evidente, quanto sara mag- 
glore il rigore con cui se ne esigera la prestazione e se ne punir^ ii 
rifiuto. Ma sia per essere tal rigore grande quanto si voglia, si ricordano 
essi sudditi di esser cristiani e percio seguaci di quel Divino Maestro che 
ai suoi, siccome nella vita futura promette amplissimi e sempiterni 
premi, cosi nella presente non predire che tribolazione e persecuzione, e 
che percio ha insegnato loro a non temere quelli che uccidono il corpo e 
piu oltre non possono fare, ma a temere solo quello che pud e I'anima ed 
il corpo mandare all' eterna perdizione. G. Card. Gabrielli. 

by reason of the disorder and scandal It generally involves, to disturb that tranquillity by 
faction and conspiracy ; a formula in short, neither injurious to justice nor to religion. 
For these reasons, His Holiness (always reserving, however, the rights of the Roman Church 
and of the glorious Prince of the apostles, and declaring loudly that this permission must 
never be looked upon as an act of abdication or of cession of his sovereignty and of the 
rights founded thereon) allows his subjects, ecclesiastical and lay, where they cannot avoid 
it without grave peril and loss, to take an oath in the following terms : I promise and 
swear not to take part in any conspiracy ^ plot or sedition whatsoever against the actual 
governvtenty and to submit myself atid be obedient to it in all things that are not con- 
trary to the laws o_f God and the Church. 

If in truth the usurping government has no other aim than the avowed one, they must 
be satisfied with the above formula. If they are not satisfied, they show clearly that their 
intention is to bind the Pope's subjects by the sanctity of an oath, and thus to make them 
accomplices in a sacrilegious usurpation — an intention which would probably be made so 
clearly manifest by the subtle and ambiguous terms in which the formula will be framed, 
it will be rigorously exacted, and a refusal to take it severely punished. But however great 
such severity, the Pope's subjects will bear in mind that they are Christians, and thus fol- 
lowers of that Divine Master who, when He promised to his followers the rewards of eter- 
nal life, foretold that in this world they would have but sorrow and persecution, and taught 
them therefore not to fear those who can kill the body, but Him only who can deliver 
both soul and body to everlasting condemnation. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Alleged secret Articles of the Treaty of Tilsit — King Joseph leaves Ba- 
yonne for Spain on July 8, 1808 — Marshal Bessieres' victory near Me- 
dina de Rio-Seco throws open the road to Madrid — Having entered the 
capital on July 20, he withdraws from it on the 29th of the same month, 
in consequence of the catastrophe at Baylen, which also causes the 
French troops to fall back on the Ebro — The King takes up his resi- 
dence at Miranda de Ebro, where the author joins him en September 10 
— Appendix. Details of the capitulation of General Dupont at Baylen. 

In order thoroughly to understand the causes of the War in Spain, 
and of the Revolution that produced it, we must go back to the 
Peace of Tilsit. There is indeed no proof that secret articles were 
signed together with the ostensible treaty, though King Joseph has 
frequently assured me that they existed ; but either they were not 
in his own possession, or he did not think fit to communicate them 
to me. I have always felt some uncertainty on the subject. Like 
the rest of the world, then, I only know that certain secret articles 
were supposed to be annexed to the public treaty, which were 
printed on the 25th of August, 181 2, in the Gazette de Madrid, 
when that newspaper was the organ of the Cortes, at that time in 
possession. of the capital. I give them here with the notes that 
accompanied them.* 

* Secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit. 

Art. I. Russia is to take possession of European Turkey, and may ex- 
lend her conquests in Asia at her discretion. 

Art. 2. The Bourbon dynasty in Spain, and the House of Braganza in 
Portugal shall cease to reign. A Prince of the Bonaparte family shall 
succeed to each of these crowns. 

Art. 3. The temporal power of the Pope shall cease. Rome and her 
dependent States shall be united to the kingdom of Italy. 

Art. 4. Russia binds herself to assist France with her navy in the con- 
quest of Gibraltar. 

Art. 5. The French shall take possession of towns in Africa, such as 
Tunis, Algiers, etc., a«id, at the General Peace, all the conquests which 
the French may have made in Africa shall be given as an indemnity to 
the kings of Sardinia and Sicily. 

Art. 6. The island of Malta shall belong to the French, and no peace 
shall be made with England so long as she retains that island. 

Art. 7. The French shall occupy Egypt. 

Art. 8. The navigation of the Mediterranean shall be permitted to 



ALEXANDER I. 439 



But if the style in which these articles are drawn up, and the ob- 
scurity of their origin, forbid us to regard them as authentic, it is 
at least beyond question that very similar stipulations had been 
agreed on between the two Emperors, and the conduct of affairs 
subsequently to the Treaty of Tilsit, is in complete conformity with 
the bases of those stipulations.* 

The gigantic project of the division of the world into two em- 
pires, to which Alexander had given his adhesion, was to be set on 
foot by Spain and Portugal. The dissensions that had sprung up 
in the Royal Family of Spain were secretly aggravated by French 
policy, and the ambition of the Prince of the Peace had been 
flattered by the hope of a throne in Portugal. 

Two French armies occupied the capitals of both countries at 
the beginning of 1808. The Queen and Regent of Portugal f 
had fled to Brazil from before the French army. The King and 
Queen of Spain also left Madrid, and repaired to Bayonne, as did 

French, Russian, Spanish and Italian vessels only ; all other nationalities 
shall be excluded. 

Ai't. 9. Denmark shall be indemnified in the north of Germany by the 
Hanseatic towns, on condition that she places her naval squadron in the 
hands of France. 

Art. 10. Their Majesties, the Emperors of Russia and France, shall 
agree together upon a rule by which it shall be forbidden in future to any 
power to send merchant vessels to sea, unless the same Power maintains 
a certain number of men-of-war. 

"This Treaty," adds the Spanish newspaper, " has been signed by 
Prince Kouratin and Prince Talleyrand." 

Two notes accompanied this curious document, of which I also give the 
translation as follows : 

Note I. "As all the events taking place in the north owe their origin 
to the Treaties of Tilsit of 1807, the public will receive with pleasure an 
account of the secret articles agreed upon between the Emperors of France 
and Russia, which we transcribe from the English newspaper. The Sun. 

Note 2 on Article 9 concerning Denmark. " By this the conduct of 
England in her famous expedition to Copenhagen, which was so greatly 
condemned, is completely justified. Time has at last unfolded the secret, 
and no one can now accuse the English government of dishonourable con- 
duct in having snatched from her assassin the weapons with which he 
intended to strike her. The capture and destruction of the Danish naval 
squadron was a necessary evil, that England was bound to inflict under 
pain of making herself guilty, against the rights of nature, of all the harm 
that her enemy would have done her by means of that squadron." 

* The existence of a secret Treaty of Tilsit is acknowledged by a great 
number of English politicians. The Morning J otirnal, which succeeded 
to the New Times in 1828, argues from the fact against the conduct of 
Russia in the war which in the beginning of 1828, broke out between that 
power and Turkey. (See the Morning Journal oi October 9, 1828.) 

f Afterwards Don Juan VI. He had taken the reins of government 
during the mental derangement of Queen Maria, his mother, and at the 
death of that Princess he ascended the throne of Portugal and Brazil. 



440 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Prince of the Asturias, who, after forcing his father Charles IV. 
to abdicate, had ascended the throne as Ferdinand VII. 

I shall not enter here into the particulars of what took place 
at Bayonne, when these Princes were there in presence of the 
Emperor. The histor)' of the surrender of the throne of Spain by 
Charles IV. in favour of Napoleon, and of the renunciation by the 
Prince of the Asturias and his brothers, of their rights to the suc- 
cession, is to be found in the writings of the day, and as I was not 
on the spot, and that King Joseph himself had not arrived there, 
I shall relate only what occurred after the acts of cession and renun- 
ciation by Charles IV. and his sons.* 

Notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Emperor to give an 
appearance of legality to the great change he had just effected ; 
notwithstanding the pains he took to avoid having recourse to 
force, the Spanish people were not to be deceived. Their indig- 
nation broke, out, and every day became more threatening. But 
these symptoms of a resistance which was so soon to assume a 
formidable character, did not check Napoleon's course. He had 
gone too far to draw back. A Junta of Spanish notables, which 
the Grand Duke of Berg had convened at Madrid, was summoned 
to Bayonne, and its presence was regarded as a sort of national 
ratification of all that had taken place there. It was suggested to 
this assembly to name the Emperor's eldest brother, as the Prince 
whose elevation to the throne that Charles IV. had just abandoned 
would best serve the interests of Spain. The Junta acted on the 
suggestion, and had no sooner made overtures to that effect in the 
Assembly, than the opportunity was eagerly seized by the Emperor, 
and a decree of the 6th of June, 1808, called Joseph Napoleon, ' 
King of Naples and Sicily, to the throne of Spain. 

The new King was at Paie, where he had arrived, on the 7th 
June ; here he heard of his accession ; and thus found himself 
bound by a solemn act before he had formally consented to it. The 
Emperor went to meet his brother at some distance from Bayonne, 
and manifested great affection for him. It was necessary to blind 
him to the dangers of the part he was about to be made to play, 
and to show him only its bright side. On reaching Bayonne, 
Joseph found himself surrounded with all the seductions and all 
the grandeurs of royalty. He there received the eager homage of 
the Spanish Grandees, of the members of the Junta, and of the 
principal personages who had followed the former court and com- 
posed the household of Charles IV. and of the Infantes. Protes- 

* A very interesting account of this important episode in the history of 
the period, is given in the concluding chapters of ' Memoirs of Madame 
de Rcmusat.' (Translators' Note.) 



A CONSTITUTION. 44I 



tations of zeal and regard were eagerly made on all sides, [t 
would have taken a very cool head to resist such seductions. 
Solicitations of all kinds, requests for appointments, places at Court 
sought for by the most illustrious families,* all contributed to 
fascinate the Prince. And at the same time a veil was drawn over 
everything that was then taking place in Spain, No certain news 
was received, or if any report contrived to make way through the 
obstacles opposed to its circulation, its authenticity was sedulously 
denied. 

Amid delusions of all kinds, the session of the Junta was opened, 
on the 1 6th of June. At its first sitting, the Junta acknowledged 
the legitimacy of the rights acquired over Spain by the Emperor, 
as a consequence of the surrender made by Charles IV. , and also 
their transfer to the eldest of his brothers, whom it declared to be 
King of Spain and the Indies. On the i8th of the same month, 
a formal deputation waited on Joseph, and confirmed that declara- 
tion ; but the King, in order to establish his rights not on the 
declaration, but exclusively on the acts of surrender and retroces- 
sion that had preceded it, had already ratified his accession, in an 
order addressed to the Council of Castile sitting at Madrid, and by 
a proclamation dated the nth of June. In these public acts, he 
had assumed all the former titles borne by the Kings of Spain, 
among them those of Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders, and 
King of Corsica, a ridiculous protocol, the use of which was to be 
attributed to the customs of the Spanish Chancellery. But these 
titles greatly offended the Emperor, who ordered that in future this 
splendid array of names should be reduced to the single title of 
King of Spain and the Indies. 

Immediately on the recognition of the new King, the Junta began 
to discuss a Constitution for the Spanish Monarchy, a draft of 
which, made under the supervision of the Emperor, was laid before 
it. Twelve sittings were devoted to this discussion, but they pro- 
duced only a few important alterations in the original design, which 
it is but just to admit, was based on sound principles, and tended 
to procure for Spain the advantages of representative Monarchy. 
But the hand which offered it was enough to ensure its rejection 
by the nation, and the project, which was repudiated soon after- 
wards by its own author, perished without receiving any practical 
application. The labour of the Junta being ended by the adoption 

* The Dukes del Infantado, de Frias, and d'Ossuna, the Prince de 
Castelfranco, the Marquesses d'Ariza and de Santa Cruz, the Counts de 
Fernan-Nuiiez, d'Orgaz, and de Santa-Colona were at Bayonne and 
came to congratulate King Joseph. The Duke del Infantado addressed 
the King in the name of the Grandees, and his speech was remarkable 
for his protestations of fidelity. 



442 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



and publication of the act of Constitution, it was dissolved, and the 
members took the road to Spain, on their return to their own 
homes. The King himself prepared to set-out to take possession 
of the throne, but before beginning the journey he appointed his 
ministers and the principal officers of his household. The selec- 
tion for these appointments was made among men who were dis- 
tinguished either by their ability or their birth, and met with 
general approval ; they were at the same time a proof that there 
was not one of the great families of Spain that did not wish for the 
honour of holding the same appointments at the Court of King 
Joseph that they had held under the sovereigns of the Houses of 
Austria and of Bourbon during their supremacy at Madrid. * Be- 
fore they parted, the two brothers agreed on two treaties, with the 
object of regulating the political and commercial relations between 
their respective States, and the troops that each was to furnish, in 
order to maintain the alliance, offensive and defensive, that was 
perpetually to subsist between them, and which was the subject of 
an additional article. 

All being thus set in order, the new King of Spain left Bayonnc 
on the 8th of July, 1808, Avith about 1500 French soldiers, a poor 
escort, but no larger one was available, as the troops intended for 
the occupation of the Peninsula, and whose number daily became 
more insufficient, had already been drafted either into Spain or 
Portugal. 

In the absence of an effective force, it was thought desirable to 
make a brilliant display on the journey. 

The ancient etiquette of Spain was scrupulously obser^'ed. The 
King sat alone on the back seat of his carriage, the front was occu- 
pied by the Duke del Parque, Captain of the Guard, and M. 
d'Asauza, Minister of the Indies. The other ministers, including 
M. de Cevallos, f Minister of Foreign Affairs, followed, and these 
with the Grandees of Spain, the Chamberlains, various oflicers of 
the Household, and Deputies from the Junta, formed a brilliant 
and numerous retinue. The newspapers took care in describing 
it, to exaggerate the number of French troops which preceded and 
followed the equipage. Don Michael Alava, who was afterwards 

* The following is a list of the names of the ministers and officers of 
King Joseph's household, appointed at Bayonne. MM. O'Faril, de Ce- 
vallos, d'Asauza, Jovellanos, Cabarrus, Massaredo and Urguijo, minis- 
ters. The first three had been ministers during the ephemeral reign of 
the Prince of the Asturias as Ferdinand VII. L'Infantado. del Parque, 
Fernan-Nunez, Ossuna, Ilijar, Castelfranco, Orgazand others, captains of 
the guard or great officers of the Crown. 

f M. de Cevallos excuses himself in his published Memoirs for having 
accepted the post of minister. It is however quite certain that he asked 
for it. 



OMINOUS SYMPTOMS. 443 

aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, acted on this journey as 
quartermaster, and had the halting places on the road prepared. 

But while an attempt was made by these demonstrations of pomp 
and state to disguise the inherent weakness of the position, a serious 
insurrection was being organized in the provinces. A Govern- 
ment Junta established at Seville, had put itself in communication 
with private Juntas established at various places. Violent procla- 
mations had been published, and were inflaming the people. The 
right of Ferdinand VII. to the crown of Spain was recognised by 
an immense majority in the nation ; and the new King was de- 
scribed as a usurper, against whom it was urgently demanded that 
all the resources of the country should be employed. The French 
generals endeavoured to stifle the insurrection in its birth by severe 
measures and military executions. Villages — towns even — were 
burned to the ground or given over to pillage. * But this terrible 
expedient, far from exciting feelings of terror, only increased the 
anger of the people. French soldiers were murdered on the roads, 
and communications became more difficult every day. Lastly, a 
well-ordered army advanced to arrest the progress of the new King, 
and threatened to cut off his approach to Madrid. Meanwhile, 
the King and his retinue, after passing through the provinces of 
Biscaya and Alava, were coming by easy stages, through Miranda 
da Ebro and Briviesca towards Castile. But as they advanced, and 
the news from the interior reached them, the aspect of affairs 
changed, and uneasiness was perceptible on every face. Already 
among the persons composing the suite, those who had only joined 
it in order to provide themselves with a safe means of returning to 
Spain, and those who had been attracted by ambitious motives and 
who perceiving from the first that their hopes were vain, were not 
pledged so deeply but that they could withdraw, had turned aside, 
or on various pretexts remained behind, and day by day the King's 
suite diminished. 

In fact, it was becoming more and more doubtful whether he 
would succeed in reaching Madrid. General Cuesta, who com- 
manded the Spanish army in the neighbourhood of Benevento, 
could by a few days' march intercept communication between 
France and Madrid. He might effect this by marching on Burgos 
at the junction of the two high roads which lead from that town 
to the Capital, one through Aranda da Duero, the other through 
Valladolid. But Marshal Bessieres, who commanded in Old 
Castile and in the Kingdom of Leon, did not give the Spanish 
General time to execute this manoeuvre. He collected his troops 
hastily together, and went out to meet Cuesta, whom he found in 

* Among others Cuenja and Torquemada. 



444 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

position on the heights of Medina da Rioseco, on the 14th of July. 
The engagement was very brisk, and this first struggle for Spanish 
independence was unsuccessful. The French, although inferior 
in number by nearly one half, attacked the enemy with their 
accustomed valour, and with the confidence born of a long course 
of victories, as yet unchecked by any reverse. The Spaniards, 
driven back and completely beaten, retired in disorder on Bene- 
vento, and from thence to Astorza. Marshal Bessieres pursued 
them to Benevento, which he entered on the 19th of July. 

The news of this brilliant victor}^ reached Burgos on the i6th. 
On the same day the King entered that town with ringing of bells. 
The news raised the spirits of the Frenchmen who accompanied the 
King ; and as is usual with our nation, everyone at once passed 
from anxiety and alarm to the most complete confidence. They 
persuaded themselves that nothing remained to be done. The 
Emperor himself seemed to share this confidence, which was so 
soon to be belied. He thought, or at least he pretended to think, 
that the victor)' of Medina da Rioseco had removed ever}' danger. 
He wrote to his brother that he could not do too much for the 
General who had secured to him his crown, and that he ought at 
once to send him the Golden Fleece. But when Joseph received 
the Emperor's letter, he was no longer at Madrid, and did not 
hold himself obliged to recompense service which had become use- 
less to him. 

However Napoleon may have regarded the consequences of the 
battle of Medina, it is at least evident that he profited by that event 
to withdraw from the frontier, where he had remained after the 
departure of his brother. A longer stay would have become em- 
barrassing, if affairs had taken an unfavourable turn, and he, owing 
to the insufficient means at his disposal, had been obliged to re- 
main a mere spectator. On the other hand, it was difficult for 
him to withdraw, so long as the issue of his enterprise remained 
doubtful. He therefore availed himself of the opportunity of this 
military success, whose result he might exaggerate at will, to return 
to Paris, and he left Bayonne on the 21st of July. 

Joseph paused one day only at Burgos, and on the 17th resumed 
his journey towards Madrid. General Dupont covered the city 
with a force which occupied the passes of the Sierra-Morena, and 
ought to have already penetrated into Andalusia. The King 
passed through Lerma, Arandala, Duero, and Buytrago. In the 
latter town, eight leagues from Madrid, a great change was obsen'- 
able among the principal personages in the King's suite. Many 
were not forthcoming when the King was ready to set out again ; 
secret conferences were held among those Spaniards whose fidelity 
v^'as doubtful, and they were extremely reserved in their intercourse 



DISASTER. 445 



with the French, and with those of their compatriots who were 
.most favourable to the new Government. It seems that rumours 
Vf what was taking place in Andalusia had already reached them. 
Tv.ey could not have known of the principal event, but it was 
possible for them to be informed of the military movements, and 
the retreat of General Dupont from Cordova. 

The King entered the capital on the 20th July. It was a mel- 
ancholy scene. The silence and disdainful looks of the inhabitants 
of Madrid were all the more significant, because much solemnity 
was given to the ceremony. Here, as on the journey, all the 
ancient customs of the Monarchy were observed. Joseph entered 
Madrid by the Alcala Gate, and thus crossed the town in its widest 
extent to reach the palace. He sat alone in his carriage. He 
was received at the foot of the grand staircase by the nobility, who 
conducted him to his apartments. The bodies of the State came 
to pay him homage, and on the 23d of July he was proclaimed 
King in the squares and principal streets of Madrid, with all the 
ceremonies observed on the accession of a King of Spain. * 

Joseph was absorbed by the cares of government, and unaware 
of the danger of his position. Three days after his arrival at 
Madrid he received a warning, by the sudden change that took 
place around him. The Grandees ceased to appear at the palace, 
and dispensed themselves from their service there. Partial con- 
fidences foreshadowed some great event ; interest, even pity, was 
discernible in the demeanour of those who still kept up some sort 
of appearance. At last the secret came out, and the French were 
all the more petrified by it on account of their profound security. 
They learned that General Dupont had capitulated to the Spanish 
army commanded by Castaiios, after an engagement which had 
taken place near Baylen on the 1 9th, and that his army, the only 
one that defended Madrid, had thrown down their arms and 
yielded themselves prisoners of war. j- 

When the news of this event, exaggerated as it would necessarily 
be, in the absence of any authentic information, reached Madrid, 
and could no longer be doubted, the alarm felt by the French, 
redoubled by the ill-disguised joy of the inhabitants, was very 
great. Contradictory proposals and counsels dictated by fear, 

* The Marquis d'Astorga, Count of Altamira, who as Alferez-mayor of 
Madrid should have performed this ceremony, excused himself on the 
plea of ill health. His place was filled by M. Negretti, Marquis of Cam- 
po-Alanje, who was afterwards made a duke by King Joseph, and ap- 
pointed Grand Equerry and Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

f In the appendix to this chapter the reader will find particulars of that 
disastrous affair, whose details I gathered during my stay at Madrid from 
trustworthy sources. This account is perfectly exact. 



44^ MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

succeeded each other, and nothing was decided upon. At last it 
was resolved that the King should leave Madrid. Everything 
capable of being carried away was taken from the palace and store- 
houses, and the departure was hurried on.* 

This retreat, which might perhaps have become imperative, was 
certainly premature. After the affair of Baylen, and the capitu- 
lation which followed it, the Spanish army took no step to profit 
by these advantages. It did not menace Madrid, and seemed 
more astonished at its victory than ready to follow it up. The 
French abandoned the capital rather from the fear inspired by the 
Spanish victory, than from any real necessity, and the danger from 
which they fled existed up to that time in their imagination only. 
It is even probable that if they had persisted in holding Madrid, 
and summoned the troops under Marshal Bessieres to the Tagus 
(and there was time for this), Castanos would have hesitated a long 
time before crossing the Sierra-Morena, and he could not have 
crossed the Tagus to drive the French from Madrid without fight- 
ing another battle, with at least an uncertain result. But the con- 
fusion into which the French were thrown by so unexpected a 
reverse as that of Baylen, prevented them from considering the 
question with the coolness it required. 

Joseph left Madrid on the 29th July, accompanied by the small 
body of troops which was there, under command of General 
Savary. The new Ministers, with the exception of M. de Cevallos 
and a few other persons, accompanied the King ; but all the 
Grandees who had accepted appointments in his household forsook 
him. The Duke del Parque, who up to the last moment had 
exercised the functions of Captain of the Guards, and on whom the 
King reckoned most confidendy, proved himself as faithless as the 
others. 

The retreat from Madrid was as silent as the entry into the city 
had been. There were no external signs of ill-will, as there had 
previously been no tokens of welcome. The King departed by the 
same route he had taken on arriving. No honours were now paid 
him on the way. At Burgos, the Archbishop forbade the ringing 
of the bells, a homage which had been offered spontaneously when 
he previously passed through that town. On leaving Madrid the 
monarch ceased to exist : there remained only a general and an 
army in retreat. 

The evacuation of J^Iadrid caused all the French forces beyond 
the Ebro to fall back, and obliged them to abandon the siege of 
Saragossa, which they raised on the 13th of August, notwithstand- 

* On this occasion the Spaniards said, " Joseph has put in his pocket 
the crown he could not keep on his head." 



THE emperor's CONDUCT. 447 

ing that they were already in possession of a portion of the town. 
Thus the French troops, forming three divisions under Marshals 
Bessieres, Moncey, and Ney, withdrew from the interior of the 
country, and took up their position on the left bank of the Ebro, 
keeping only a few outposts on the right bank, especially near the 
Passacorva Pass on the road from Vittoria to Burgos. The seat of 
government was removed to Vittoria. King Joseph took up his 
abode, with the Imperial Guard and the Reserve, at Miranda de 
Ebro, in Castile, with the hope of retaining a footing in that prov- 
ince. Marshal Jourdan, who occupied the post of Major-General, 
was with him. 

Such was the state of affairs and the position of the French 
Army in Spain, when I arrived at Miranda de Ebro on the loth 
of September, 1808. The King had shown great courage and 
firmness under his reverses. He did not deceive himself as to the 
difficulties of his position, but he was ready to do all he could to 
better it. In our interviews, he talked to me with all his former 
confidence, and was grateful to me for coming to join him at a 
moment when his fortunes were at so low an ebb. 

On investigating the state of affairs with him I ascertained that 
the recent misfortunes were the result of several errors. The state 
of public opinion in Spain had evidently been misunderstood, or, 
if it were not so, nothing had been done to conciliate it, and I 
could discern no method of repairing the evil. War was now our 
only resource ; but it is one thing to vanquish, and another to 
convince, and so long as the public mind remained unchanged, 
there was no probability of lasting success. My real opinion was 
that we would do well to relinquish the enterprise, but at that 
moment I could not make such a proposal. It only remained for 
me to resign myself to share the fate of King Joseph, while waiting 
until events should decide this great conflict in which France had 
been so imprudently involved by the Emperor. 
• Napoleon heard of the capitulation of Baylen a few days after he 
left Bayonne ; and even while he was receiving the congratulations 
of the authorities of the towns through which he passed on having 
added Spain to his dominions, the fruit of so many perfidious in- 
trigues was slipping from his grasp. He must now have recognised 
the mistake he made in undertaking the conquest of Spain with 
means so inadequate. He had regarded that conquest as a mere 
episode in his vast designs, and now it was about to demand all 
his efforts and to drain all his resources. 

But as he was not in a position to act promptly, his other forces 
being at too great a distance to furnish reinforcements to the army 
of Spain, and as before he could with safety withdraw any of the 
troops he had in the north he must secure tranquillity by diplo- 



448 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

matic arrangements, he kept silence for the moment and dissem- 
bled. His anger with General Dupont found no open expression, 
and the newspapers, which every day for three months had been 
reporting the events in Spain, were now enjoined to maintain 
profound silence on all that was taking place there. 

In his letters to his brother, the Emperor neither approved or 
disapproved of anything. In one, he merely said, ** You probably 
do not care much for the Spanish crown, and it will not be difficult 
to find you another, if we cannot hold the one in dispute. ' ' I 
cannot tell what importance was to be attached to this hint ; but it 
was not taken by King- Joseph, who, on the contrary, made head 
against the storm with all his might, thus endeavouring to justify 
the choice that had been made of him. Napoleon had evidently 
advanced this idea in order to prepare his brother for a change, 
and to set himself free if the results of the interview at Erfiirth, 
which he was then planning, should forbid him to persist in his 
designs on Spain. 

The capitulation of Baylen was follow^ed by a tacit truce. The 
French, while waiting for reinforcements from the north, continued 
to hold their position on the Ebro, and the Spaniards, instead of 
advancing rapidly from the Sierra- Morena to that river, remained 
for a long time completely inactive ; * it was not until the 23d of 
August, more than five weeks after King Joseph's departure, that 
they entered Madrid, where they lost much precious time in idle 
rejoicings. At length, about the middle of September they ap- 
peared on the Ebro ; crossed that river above Miranda, took Bilboa, 
and forced the headquarters of the king to retire on Vittoria, which 
was reached on the 2 2d of September. But the Spaniards did not 
follow up their advantage, and the month of October was passed in 
marches and unimportant operations. Bilboa and the positions on 
the Ebro were alternately occupied and abandoned by the French 
and the Spaniards, and this petty warfare, which never assumed a 
serious character, gave time to the columns coming across France 
from the north, to reach Spain. Thus it was that the Spaniards 
lost, in a military point of view, the fruits of their victory of Bay- 
len, and in the end the only important result of that event was to 
inspire the Spanish nation with extraordinary confidence, and sub- 
sequently, with obstinate determination which prevented all hope 
of a reconciliation. 

* After the capitulation, General Caslanos returned to Seville, to fulfil 
the vow he had made of dedicating his victory to Saint Ferdinand, whose 
body is interred in the cathedral. He laid the crown of laurel, with which 
the town had presented him, on the saint's tomb. The French fiags were 
suspended in the church. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIV, 



A Detailed Account of General Dupont's Surrender of Baylen. 

In conformity with the orders of the Grand Duke of Berg, General 
Dupont had marched on Toledo, at the head of about 20,000 men, and 
from thence had occupied La Mancha so far as the base of the Sierra- 
Morena, which he reached about the end of June 1808. His movements 
had met with no opposition. Hostilities had barely commenced between 
the two nations ; the Government Junta, which had only been formed at 
Seville in June, had not yet had time to put the troops that were assem- 
bling in Andalusia into the field. These were afterwards placed under the 
command of General Castanos, with General Reding and the Marquis de 
Coupigny under his orders. 

General Dupont continued to stretch out his forces, crossed the pass 
of the Sierra-Morena, and descended into the plain of Andujar, from 
whence he marched to Cordova. He left about half his troops behind, 
under the command of General Wedel, to occupy the other side of the 
Sierra-Morena so far as the Guadalquivir, and to keep up communica- 
tions with Madrid. Thus the forces with General Dupont could not ex- 
ceed ID or 12,000 men. With so few troops the conquest of Andalusia 
was not to be thought of. He could therefore only hope to surprise a 
few towns, and to this the expedition was in fact limited. Cordova was 
sacked ; the churches, convents, and public offices were pillaged ; the in- 
habitants were robbed, and many of them were massacred.* The army 
then, having heard of the march of General Castanos, who was advanc- 
ing from Seville upon Cordova, retired precipitately on Andujar. There 
could not have been a more ill-judged proceeding. A hostile demon- 
stration which could have no results, and which was, consequently, only 
an avowal of weakness, was a military blunder, and an expedition dis- 
graced by pillage, which rendered all the inhabitants hostile, was apoliti- 
cal blunder, whose results were still more serious. 

Those consequences were not long delayed in either case. General 
Castanos, who was pursuing the French Army, whose timely retreat had 
been prevented by the occupation of Cordova, detached from 14,000 to 
15,000 men under General Reding. These troops marched through 
Jaen, to Mengibar, a position on the Guadalquivir above Rondujar, 

* See the report of the pillage of Cordova addressed by the Corregidor of that town to 
the council of Castille, and inserted in the Madrid Gazette of the year 1808, page 1372. 
According to this report the sack lasted ten days. General Laplace is mentioned as having 
taken 2,000 ducats from the Count of Villa-Maria, with whom he lodged, and to have ex- 
acted besides 8,000 reals. General Dupont is accused of having taken from the treasury 5 
millions of reals, and 5 millions more from the custom-house funds. This report is doubt- 
less exaggerated, but if even the half were true, it would be a great deal too much. 



450 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

which General Wedel had occupied with a detachment. This position 
was taken on the i6th of July. On the same day, the Marquis de Cou- 
pigny crossed the Guadalquivir above Mengibar, and on the i6th he was 
on the road from Andujar to Baylen. General Wedel, in falling back, 
had abandoned the latter post and had withdrawn to Guaroman at the 
entrance of the Sierra-Morena. These movements caused General Du- 
pont to be entirely cut off from General Wedel, and his lines of commu- 
nication with La Mancha and Madrid were consequently intercepted. 

On the i8th of July Reding occupied Baylen. This was a very bold 
manoeuvre, for it threw this Spanish corps between General Wedel at 
Guaroman and General Dupont at Andujar. The consequences to the 
Spaniards might have been serious, if Wedel had immediately returned 
and attacked Reding at Baylen. But Wedel remained inactive in the 
position he had taken up, and waited for orders. General Castanos, on 
the other hand, marched from Cordova, and on the same day, the iSth, 
occupied the heights above Andujar,* and prepared to attack the French 
who were holding that town, while Reding was to fall on them in the 
rear. General Dupont, who felt all the danger of his position, left Andu- 
jar, hoping to reach Baylen, and not knowing that it was held by the 
enemy. But. having learned, while on the march, that Wedel had with- 
drawn from Baylen, and that his means of communication with that Gen- 
eral were cut off by Reding, he saw no means of escape but by forcing 
his way through the lines of the latter. He resolved on attacking him 
between Andujar and Baylen, on the 19th of July, before dawn, and cut- 
ting his way through. The attack began at three in the morning. The 
French troops did not belie their ancient reputation ; the Spaniards were 
several times forced to yield, and their lines were broken more than 
once,f yet victory was still undecided, and the French had already lost 
more than 2000 men. It was noon. General Dupont seeing his army 
exhausted by the night march and the great heat of the day, harassed 
on the Andujar side by Castafios who had sent a detachment under Gen- 
eral Pena to attack the French on their rear, and unable either to ad- 
vance or to retreat, despaired not only of victory but of holding out until 
the arrival of General Wedel, on whom he had reckoned to keep Reding 
in check.' In this terrible extremity, he thought himself bound solely to 
save his troops from utter destruction, and he offered to capitulate. A 
truce of a few hours was at first agreed upon, and the negotiation ended 
in a complete capitulation. The following were its principal conditions : 
The entire French army was to lay down its arms ; the Spaniards under- 
taking to send it back to France in ships which they would supply for 
the purpose at Cadiz, and promising besides to provide the necessary 
passports for the passage ; officers and men would be allowed to retain 
their baggage.:}: 

General Wedel's division, which had taken no part in the engagement, 
and which had not yet arrived on the field of battle, was included in the 
treaty, and it was stipulated that it should share the fate of the army corps 
to which it belonged. 

The conferences were held in a field on the left of the high road from 
Andujar to Baylen, at about three or four miles from the latter town. 
The capitulation was signed by General Dupont, and by General Mares- 

♦ They arc called Los Oj'os de Cintiujar. 

t See the account given bj' General Reding in the Gnzetla de Mmiridy page 988. 

+ The principal honours of the day evidently belong to General Reding. Castanos 
may have contrived the plan of the battle, but he was not on the field. Yet he alone is 
mentioned in all the accounts of the event. The reason is that Reding was a Swiss and a 
Spanish name was required. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIV. 45 1 

cot, who had joined the army on his return from a special mission with 
which he had been entrusted. He was quite apart from the command, 
and had nothing to do with the events of the day, but he would not desert 
General Dupont, who on his side attached great value to the signature 
and recognition of an officer who was highly respected, and whose opin- 
ion would have great weight in the judgment that should be passed upon 
the capitulation. On his return to France, General Marescot paid dearly 
for his generosity.* 

While this negotiation was taking place on the field of battle, where the 
two armies had just been engaged, General Wedel, who had begun his 
march in the morning in order to come to the assistance of General Du- 
pont, reached the heights of Baylen. On his way he had defeated the 
troops left behind by Reding, to watch his movements, and had even 
taken 600 prisoners. His men were still fresh, and his presence might 
have changed the fate of the day. and caused Reding to repent of the bold 
step he had taken, but the General arrived too late. He has been blamed 
for having made a halt of two hours between Guaronian and Baylen, and 
for not having quickened his march when he heard firing. Whatever may 
have been the cause of this delay, it is certain that the disasters of the 
day are in great measure attributable to it. 

General Wedel incurred the fate of the rest of the army, and surren- 
dered himself as prisoner. This was a strange decision ! Was he to con- 
sider himself bound by a capitulation in which he had taken no part ? 
Was it not in his power to withdraw, and to regain La Mancha, and from 
thence reach Madrid ? Could the Spaniards have prevented his retreat ? 
Was he obliged to yield to these hard conditions, in order to save General 
Dupont's already disarmed troops, who should, it was threatened, be put 
to the sword, if General Wedel hesitated about surrendering. None of 
these questions are settled. This event is therefore of an extraordinary 
character, and as remarkable for the singular circumstances by which it 
was attended as for the importance of its results. 

I am far from believing that there was any treason in the matter, 
though this was insinuated at the time, and the accusations of the French 
Government against Generals Dupont and Marescot, together with the 
severe treatment which they underwent in France, were calculated to sub- 
stantiate the charge. Nothing could be more unlikely ; and in default of 
any other proof, the rigour with which the Spaniards treated the French 
prisoners would be a sufficiently strong one to refute such a theory. But 
that great blunders were committed cannot be denied, and if the pillage 
of Cordova and the desire to retain such ill-gotten gains were the origin 
of the faulty military measures that were taken in the first place, and 
afterwards led to a surrender being preferred to any other line of conduct, 
that is a sufficiently grave subject for reproach, without having recourse 
to the odious imputation of treason, which was then so foreign to the 
character of French generals. 

The capitulation of Baylen, whatever was the motive that led to it, did 
not put an end to the disasters of the French army. After having defiled 
before the Spanish army on the 22d and 23d July to the number of 
8000 men, the remains of Dupont's corps, and 10,000 men of Wedel's di- 
vision, it was subjected to every humiliation which a people prompt to 
exaggerate its advantages, and to exercise them with arrogance, coiild 
inflict on a defeated enemy — one hitherto dreaded and invincible. The 
recollection of the conduct of the French at Cordova was, besides, it must 

* He was deprived of his command after a long imprisonment. 



452 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MEMTO. 

be owned, too recent and too exasperating not to have stifled the feelings 
of compassion which are generally aroused by a brave and unfortunate 
enemy. Thus, everywhere on the passage of the French, they were 
insulted and abused. A rising of the mob took place at Puerto-Santa 
Maria, as the French troops were embarking on the vessels that were to 
take them to Cadiz. Their baggage was plundered by the populace, on 
the pretext that some vases taken from a church at Cordova had been 
seen to fall from one of the chests. Lastly, the army of prisoners were 
not sent on to France as had been stipulated. Their departure from Ca- 
diz was delayed on various pretences, and, two years later, when Cadiz 
was besieged by the French, the greater number of the prisoners were 
still on the hulks where they had been placed. 

General Dupont protested against the infraction of the treaty, and com- 
plained loudly of the ill-usage to which his troops were subjected. His 
protests were unavailing ; but they occasioned a correspondence between 
himself and General Morla, the commandant at Cadiz, in the course of 
which the latter makes use of such severe expressions and such abusive 
recrimination, that it is evident the Spanish Governnjent of the day 
shared the feelings of the people, and was quite as ungenerous towards a 
fallen foe. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Capitulation of General Junot in Portugal — The French army leaves the 
line of the Ebro and falls back on Vittoria — The Emperor arrives at 
that city on the 7th of November — He deeply ofifends Spanish pride by 
the insulting violence of his language — He orders his numerous troops 
to advance, and follows them on the loth of November — Marshal 
Soult's victory over the army of Estremadura opens the gates of 
Burgos to the French, and the Emperor removes his head-quarters 
thither on the nth —Frightful ravages committed by the French army 
on its march — King Joseph's indignation and grief affect his health — 
The good understanding between the brothers is again impaired, Napo- 
leon looking upon Spain as his own conquest, and allowing no author- 
ity there except his own — The Author advises Joseph to relinquish the 
crown of Spain, but is not listened to — Marshal Lannes having beaten 
the troops of Castanos, near Tudela, the Emperor removes his head- 
quarters to Aranda de Duero — Engagement at Somo-Sierra — The 
King, who constantly follows the Imperial Head-quarters, at last joins 
Napoleon at Chamartin, near Madrid, the inhabitants of which place 
seem resolved on its defence — Retiro is attacked and taken — Madrid 
capitulates and the French take possession of the town — The Emperor 
continues to exercise the sole sovereign authority, and the King retires 
to Prado — Numerous confiscations are ordered by Napoleon — The 
Austrian armaments, and the march of the English troops under Sir 
John Moore, who threatens Valladolid, induce the Emperor before 
leaving Madrid to effect a reconciliation with Joseph — Arrangement 
come to by the two brothers. 

After the retreat from Madrid, the French army, as already said, 
had divided into three bodies, and, amounting in all to hardly 
50,000 men, taken up its position on the Ebro. There it had re- 
mained inactive for six weeks, and this inaction encouraged the 
enemy to cross the Ebro a little above Miranda, and threaten us 
in the rear. A movement on our part towards Burgos would have 
immediately recalled the Spaniards to the right bank of the river, 
and on the 1 7th of September such a movement was determined 
on. But at the moment when the order for its execution was 
about to be given, intelligence was received of the convention of 
Cintra, which had been concluded on the 30th of August, between 
General Junot and General Dalrymple, commandant of the Eng- 
lish army in Portugal, in consequence of the battle of Vimicero, 
lost by the French a few days before. This capitulation, in ac- 
cordance with which the French army had re-embarked to return 



454 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to France, made the English complete masters in Portugal, and 
they were now able to give assistance to Spain without hindrance. 
In such a situation any movement would have been imprudent, 
and therefore the i)lan of an advance on Burgos was abandoned, 
and the head-quarters being no longer sufficiently strong at Mi- 
randa were removed to Vittoria, there to await the coming of the 
Emperor, who was shortly expected to arrive in Spain. 

During our stay at Vittoria, we were kept continually on the 
alert by the movements of the enemy. They had crossed the 
Ebro, and taken Bilboa on our flank, and many times threatened 
to cut off our communication with France ; but the activity of 
Marshal Ney, whose troops were employed in baffling the projects 
of the Spaniards, the combined movements on Orduiia executed 
by the King at the head of a strong detachment, and the skilful 
measures taken by Marshal Jourdan, arrested the progress of the 
enemy. Bilboa was retaken, and the columns that the Emperor 
was sending into Spain beginning to arrive in succession dailv, 
rendered our position more formidable. At length all was ready, 
and preparations were made to open the campaign which was to 
decide the fate of Spain. 

IMeanwhile Napoleon had learned with certainty at the council of 
Erfiirth that the Emperor Alexander had remained faithful to the en- 
gagements into which he had entered at Tilsit. Prussia, enfeebled 
as she was and occupied by a French army, could do nothing, 
so long as the good understanding between Russia and France 
lasted. Austria alone was doubtful ; but the habitual procrastina- 
tion of the cabinet of Vienna gave Napoleon confidence. He 
thought that the brilliancy of the fresh victories over the English, 
which he promised himself, as well as the conquest of Spain, 
which he believed to be merely a matter of a rapid campaign, would 
bring Austria to a state of resignation. In any case he would 
leave sufTicient troops in the north to fight that power so long as it 
was his only enemy, and the event proved that on this head he 
was not mistaken. 

Thus everything was shaping itself towards a fresh contest and 
one the more remarkable, because the English, who already had 
expelled the French from Portugal, were going to take part in it, 
and to encounter their formidable enemy in person. Princes and 
people awaited the issue with anxiety ; the e^es of Europe, which 
for ten years hatl been fixed on Italy and Germanv, where the 
destinies of nations had so often been weighed in the balance and 
decided, were now turned towards a country which had hitherto 
been unconcerned in those great events. Spain had suddenly 
become the stage whereon the most fortunate and most skilful 
general of our time was lo find himself face to face with the enemy 



THE EMPEROR ARRIVES. 455 

he was burning to attack, and in conflict with the wild courage of 
a nation who seemed to have waited until this man had conquered 
Europe to defy him. The Emperor, after having made arrange- 
ments which were to ensure to him some years of concord with 
Russia, arrived in Paris from Erfiirth on the 1 9th of October, 
1808. The formidable masses which composed the Grand Army 
were already in movement. Their passage through France, cov- 
ered with honours and glory, was a succession of fetes, and, only 
that a certain want of discipline was occasionally manifested, their 
march would have resembled a continual triumph rather than a 
military movement. The troops had just reached the Spanish 
frontier when the opening of the Legislative Body took place in 
Paris, on the 23d of October. 

The Emperor's speech on that solemn occasion is full of pride, 
satisfied with the present, and confident in the future. " It is," 
said he, "a special favour from the same Providence that has con- 
stantly favoured our arms, that the English authorities are now so 
blinded by passion, that they are not satisfied with the empire of 
the sea, but must present their armies on the continent. I intend 
leaving Paris in a few days, in order to take the command of my 
army in person, and, with the help of God, I shall crown the King 
of Spain in Madrid and hoist my eagles on the towers of Lisbon." 

Vainglorious boast, which events have too utterly belied ! 

Napoleon left Paris on the 30th of October, and reached Vittoria 
on the evening of the 7th of November. He was accompanied by 
the Prince de Neuchatel, the Marshal-Dukes of Dalmatia and 
Friuli, and by his generals, the Duke of Rovigo, Nansouty, and 
Lefebvre-Desnouettes. The King met him at a distance of five 
miles from the town. The Emperor had travelled with astonish- 
ing rapidity, but he seemed to be very little fatigued. However 
he saw no one during the evening except his brother, with whom 
he dined. On the following day he came to the audience given 
by the King in a gallery of the house in which Joseph was resid- 
ing. He requested that the Spaniards present should be named 
to him, and spoke to them all with great animation, expressing 
himself alternately in French and in Italian, according as he 
thought he could best make himself understood. But the greater 
part of what he said was unintelligible to them. I heard it all, and 
perceived that he was excessively annoyed. 

He complained bitterly of the conduct of the Spaniards, who 
had stupidly failed to see the advantages of the change he had in- 
troduced in their political system. He was especially bitter against 
the monks : " It is they," he exclaimed, " who mislead and de- 
ceive you. I am as good a Catholic as they, and I am not against 
your religion. Your priests are paid by the English, and these 



45^3 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

English who say they come to help you, want your trade and your 
colonies. That is their real design. What have you gained by 
listening to their perfidious counsels ? I am here with the soldiers 
who conquered at Austerlitz, at Jena and at Eylau. Who can 
withstand //itm ? Certainly not your wretched Spanish troops, who 
do not know how to fight. I wished to spare you. I thought 
that troops would be required only to maintain public tranquillity 
and to garrison the fortresses ; but now Spain must become the 
seat of a sanguinary' war, and you will have to bear all its attend- 
ant evils. In two months I shall have conquered Spain, and I 
shall have all the rights over her that conquest gives the victor. 
Treaties, constitutions, all the acts that have been sanctioned by 
mutual consent, exist no longer. I shall no longer be bound to 
carry them out, and if I still respect any of them, you will owe it 
simply to my generosity. But as I can no longer trust the nation, 
I shall take sureties for it, and if I place it under military law, it 
will be because Spain herself has forced me to do so." 

During this apostrophe, and some others of the same kind, his 
auditors, not clearly comprehending their import, looked at each 
other in bewilderment. Those who understood him, for instance 
the Spanish Ministers, were distressed, for they could not doubt 
that as soon as the intentions and thoughts so bluntly and publicly 
expressed by the Emperor, became known, they would exasperate 
the people, and would bring to the front that formidable militia of 
monks which he had attacked so openly. His language about the 
Spanish troops, and the poor opinion he entertained of them, were 
especially calculated mortally to offend a nation to whom the least 
appearance of contempt is intolerable. Thus, at the very outset, 
he had deprived himself of all moral support. 

The Emperor remained three days only at Vittoria, to regulate 
military matters and to put the bodies of troops that he had 
brought from the Northern frontiers and the interior of France in 
motion. These troops, added to the 50,000 men who had taken 
up their position on the Ebro, after the retreat from Madrid, 
formed an army of 150,000 men, exclusive of the Imperial Guard 
and the King of Spain's Royal Guard just arrived from Naples. 
The army, full of enthusiasm, was composed, in great measure, of 
the veterans who had so often distinguished themselves in Italy 
and Germany, and was only waiting for the signal to fall upon 
Spain as upon a prey which could not escape them.* 

* Independently of these troops, which were about to serve under the 
immediate orders of the Emperor, there was a considerable body in 
Catalonia under General Gouvion St. Cyr. By adding the two regiments 
of the Guards to the line, we may reckon the French soldiers intended 
for the conquest of Spain at 250,000 men at the opening of the campaign. 



THE ADVANCE. 457 



That signal was given. The Emperor left Vittoria on the loth 
November, and on the same day the army crossed the Ebro at 
various points. At the opening of the campaign the disposition 
of the troops was as follows : The first and fourth divisions, under 
Marshals Victor and Lefebvre, formed the right wing of the French 
army, and were marching on the army of Galicia, which was then 
commanded by General Blake ; Marshal Soult, with the second 
division, was in the centre, and was marching on Burgos through 
Miranda de Ebro, having on his front the Spanish army called 
that of Estremadura ; the left wing was commanded by Marshal 
Moncey, who was very shortly afterwards succeeded by Marshal 
Lannes. This wing debouched from Navarre by Logrono, and 
marched against the Spanish force called the Army of the Centre, 
under General Castanos. Another corps was formed under 
Marshal Moncey for the siege of Saragossa, and kept General 
Palafox in check in Arragon. 

To these forces, the Spanish could oppose about 150,000 men 
divided into the armies of Galicia, Estremadura, the Centre, and 
Arragon. The Army of the Centre commanded by Castanos was 
the strongest. But the Spanish Generals were independent of 
each other and received their instruction from the Central Junta 
at Aranjuez, which had appointed Civil Commissioners to each 
army. This arrangement, which deprived the Generals of part of 
their authority, could only exercise a most disastrous influence on 
military affairs. 

The first advance of the French army was attended by striking 
success at all points. On the nth of November, Marshal Victor 
defeated the Galician forces at Espinosa, and obliged Blake, who 
commanded them, to retreat hurriedly to the mountains of the 

This force was subsequently augmented by the return of the army of 
Portugal, which had been sent into France after the Cintra Convention 
and was now ordered back to Spain. There were then nearly 300,000 
French in the Peninsula. These troops were divided into eight corps 
d'arme'e, under commands as follows : 

The ist, under Marshal Victor ; 

The 2d, under Marshal Soult ; 

The 3d, quartered principally in Arragon, under Marshal Moncey^ 
afterward under Marshal Lannes and General Junot successively, and 
finally under General Suchet ; 

The 4th, under Marshal Lefebvre and afterwards under General Se- 
bastiani ; 

The 5th, under Marshal Mortier ; 

The 6th, under Marshal Ney ; 

The 7th, in Catalonia, under General Gouvion St. Cyr, and afterwards 
under Marshal Augereau ; 

And lastly, the 8th in Portugal under General Junot, and later under 
General Massena. 



458 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Asturias and Galicia. Marshal Soult reached Burgos on the loth, 
and completely defeated the army of Estremadura, commanded by 
the Marquis of Belvedere, a young man of no experience, near the 
town of Gamoual. After this victory, which opened the gates of 
Burgos to the French, Marshal Soult marched on Reynosa to cut 
off the retreat of the army of Galicia which had been defeated by 
Victor. But he was too late ; Blake had already made his way 
through and had reached Galicia. Marshal Soult occupied San- 
tander and the hill sides of the Asturias. 

These engagements cost the French but few men, and the van- 
quished suffered severely. The Spanish troops, hastily levied, 
animated by a patriotic instinct and full of unfounded confidence, 
could not stand against soldiers who had fought fifty battles and 
were accustomed to victory. Nevertheless the Emperor celebrated 
these preliminary arrangements with great demonstrations, 
although they were remarkable only for their rapidity. To make 
it believed that the War in Spain would really be ended in one 
campaign, he represented the easily won victories of Gamoual and 
Espinosa as great and bloody battles, although by a curious con- 
tradiction the very same bulletins express the greatest contempt for 
the Spanish troops, whom they describe as a mob of school boys 
and peasants unworthy of the name of soldiers. Lastly, to add to the 
glory of these victories, the colours taken at Burgos were sent to 
Paris and solemnly handed over to the Legislative Body.* On 
the 1 1 th of November the Emperor moved his head-quarters to 
Burgos where King Joseph arrived on the 12th. All the villages 
on the way were deserted. Briviesca, a town of some importance 
half way between Miranda and Burgos, had not been spared any 
more than the others, and we could scarcely find a night's shelter 
there. As we approached Burgos, we crossed the field of battle 
on which the engagement of the loth had taken place — it was cov- 
ered with the bodies of the slain. A melancholy spectacle ! yet it 
did not impress me so painfully as the appearance of the town 

* The despatch of these flags was the occasion of an official rectifica- 
tion, which proves to what a pitch Napoleon carried his jealousy of his 
prerogative as a Sovereign, and his fear lest the sending of these tro- 
phies should be regarded as a homage offered to the Body representing 
the nation. 

Several newspapers had stated that the Empress, in replying to a Dep- 
utation from the Legislative Body, which was sent with congratulations 
on the victories in Spain, had said that she was very glad to see that the 
first thought of the Emperor had been " for the Legislative Body which 
represents the Nation." This expression was severely commented on in 
a note inserted in the Moniicur oi December I5lh. It was slated therein 
that the Empress understood the Constitution of France too well to have 
made use of this expression, and that the first representative of the Nation 
is the Emperor. 



HORRORS OF WAR. 459 



when we entered it. Almost all the houses were deserted and 
plundered, the furniture was broken up and the fragments lay in 
the mud ; one part of the town on the other side of the Arlanzou* 
was in flames ; a brutal soldiery were breaking doors and windows 
and smashing everything that came in their way, consuming little 
and destroying much. The churches were sacked, the streets 
were choked with the dead and the dying ; in fact we witnessed 
all the horrors of an assault, although the town had made no de- 
fence ! The Cathedral, one of the finest monuments of Gothic 
architecture, owed its safety to the precaution which had been 
taken to keep the doors closed. But the Chartreuse and the 
principal Convents had been sacked. The monastery of las 
Huelgas, the wealthiest and most noble among the communities 
of women in Old Castille, was converted into stables, the tombs 
within the Church and Cloister had been broken open in search of 
the treasures which they were supposed to contain, and the corpses 
of the nuns were flung on the pavement, among human bones, 
and fragments of shrouds. 

We remained a fortnight at Burgos, and during our stay I had 
time to become sick of horrors. We may date from this period 
the manifest moral change which took place in the French army. 
The resolution of abandoning the villages and even the towns, to 
which the inhabitants had come, had resulted in the impossibility 
of procuring any regular supplies for the army, and the soldiers, 
thrown upon their own resources for the necessaries of life, were 
no longer under any restraint. They would no longer do any- 
thing but fight and plunder ; military discipline vanished, and the 
Emperor, who witnessed all this disorder, being unable to com- 
mand the daily distribution of rations, was obliged to tolerate it. 
I saw a bivouac fire kept up all night under the very windows of 
the Archbishop's house, where the Emperor was lodging, by 
burning musical instruments and articles of furniture taken from 
the houses. King Joseph remonstrated, but his interference was 
ill-received, and the pain with which he witnessed such treatment 
under his own eyes of one of the most important towns of the 
kingdom that he was supposed to govern gravely affected his 
health. He kept his room for several days, and the Emperor 
visited him twice during his stay at Burgos. The interviews be- 
tween the two brothers were not of a pleasant nature. Napoleon 
no longer considered himself bound by the engagements he had 
made at Bayonne, and though he seemed quite willing that Joseph 
should retain the crown he had bestowed on him, he regarded 
himself as authorized, by right of conquest, to regulate afresh the 

* A river which runs through Burgos and falls into the Pisuerga. 



460 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

system on which Spain was to be governed in future. It was 
evident that he would leave on the throne only the mere shadow 
of a king. And in fact, so soon as he had put his foot on Span- 
ish territory, all other authority but his own ceased to exist among 
the French, and that of the King, feeble enough hitherto, com- 
pletely disappeared. But if this concentration of power was 
necessary for the success of military operations, the Emperor, sup- 
posing him to be sincere in his intention of maintaining his 
brother on the throne, was bound to treat the sovereign he had 
given to Spain with the consideration due to the supreme rank to 
which he himself had -called him. Far from doing this, he dis- 
pensed with even the simplest civilities, and neither permitted him 
to share in the command, nor to partake in the renown of the 
military achievements. The King was reduced to following in the 
track of the head-quarters. He would have even gone without an 
escort, if his Guards, the only regiment at his command, had not 
defended him against the bands that gathered on the rear of the 
French troops so soon as they had passed by. 

I was the King's companion on this melancholy journey, and 
he informed me of what had taken place in the two interviews at 
Burgos. I did not hesitate to advise him to resign a position of so 
little honour. I counselled him strongly to renounce a crown 
which he could only reach through torrents of blood, and which 
could never be made sufficiently secure to justify his acceptance of 
it at the price of such humiliation and insults. I still believe that 
had he followed my advice, making known the motives by which 
he was actuated, he would have been held in respect by his con- 
temporaries and by posterity. But his fear that his renunciation 
of the crown would be imputed to weakness rather than to philos- 
ophy, his anxiety for the fate of the few Spaniards who had cast in 
their lot with him, and whom he thought he could better protect 
by remaining — perhaps also it is hard to renounce the name of 
King after having once borne it — all these considerations prevailed, 
and my advice was unheeded. 

During his stay at Burgos, a financial measure of Napoleon's 
ruined a large number of Spanish landholders, and still further 
increased the hatred and aversion telt towards the French. He 
decreed the confiscation of the wool then in the town, which was 
the ortlinary depot for that valuable article of commerce, after the 
shearing oi the sYieep, until it is sent for export to Santander. 
This confiscation was effected under the pretence of indemnifying 
the French who had incurred losses in Spain. 

The Emperor, who had only remained at Burgos to give time 
to the left wing of his army to cross the Ebro, and to advance on 
the Douro, having been informed that Marshal I^nnes, who was 



VICTORY. 461 

in command, had beaten General Castaiios' division on the 2 2d 
of November at Tudela, left the capital of Old Castille on the 25th 
of November and moved his head-quarters to Aranda. The King, 
on learning of this brilliant success by a letter from the Emperor 
himself, set out on the morning of the 28th attended by his 
guards and a small retinue, and we reached Aranda on the 30th of 
November. The Emperor had left the place the evening before, 
and on the 30th had defeated a body of Spanish troops entrenched 
in the Passes of Somo-Sierra. After this victory he advanced by 
forced marches on Madrid, being no longer opposed by any enemy 
capable of resisting him. 

On receiving this news, we set off again in the evening of the 
50th of November. At midnight we reached Fresnillo de la 
Fuente, which place we left at four o'clock a.m. of the ist of 
December. After a few hours' march we came in sight of the 
lofty chain of mountains which crosses this part of Spain. It is 
called Guadarrama and separates New from Old Castille.* The 
road we were following enters this chain by a very narrow pass that 
'¥iiiis between two parallel mountains, and ends in a puerto as it is 
called by the Spaniards, which separates the two watersheds of this 
range. The first, by which we were approaching, carried its 
waters into the Douro, and the second into the Jarama, and thence 
into the Tagus. 

' ' It was here, close to a village which doubtless on account of its 
situation had received the name of Somo-Sierra, that the enemy 
had attempted some resistance. A formidable battery placed on 
the height, and commanding the pass, seemed to render it impreg- 
nable. But this battery was forced and carried in an instant by a 
charge of the cavalry of the Guard and especially of the Polish 
Lancers, f The road was strewn with the bodies of men and 
horses. Twelve or fifteen guns and three hundred prisoners were 
the fruit of the daring and victorious action by which New Castille 
was opened to us. The road on the other side of Somo-Sierra was 
strewn with the wreck of the fugitive Spanish army. Buytrago, 
which we reached at two o'clock in the afternoon, is a very large 
village, but it was completely deserted, not a single inhabitant re- 
maining in it. We only stayed the time necessary for resting our 

* This chain runs from West to East, from Cape Finisterre to the fron- 
tiers of Catalonia. Here, trending to the South, it encircles the prov- 
ince of Cuen9a, the kingdoms of Mercia and Granada, and slopes down 
to the Mediterranean at the Straits of Gibraltar. It is very lofty, and 
several of its peaks are covered with snow during nearly the whole of 
the year. 

f Count Philip de S6gur received three severe wounds in this engage- 
ment. 



462 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

horses, and resumed our journey at six in the evening. We pro- 
ceeded towards Madrid by a very fine road. 

At a short distance from Buytrago, we crossed the last spur of 
the Guadarrama mountains, and at length entered on the plain of 
New Castille, a wide table-land at a great height above the level of 
the sea. We endeavoured to quicken our march so as to reach St 
Augustin, where we knew the Emperor had fixed his head-quar- 
ters. But the exhaustion of our horses obliged us to halt a league 
on this side, at another village called El Molar, where we found 
provisions and forage. We had travelled on that day more than 
twenty French leagues. We were now only three (Spanish) * 
leagues from Madrid, which we expected to enter without difficulty 
on the following day, the 2d of December. But it fell out other- 
wise, and in order to explain the unexpected resistance of the 
Capital I must recur to what had taken place during the last few 
months among the Spaniards. 

After the battle of Baylen and the retreat of the French to the 
Ebro, communications with the various provinces of Spain were 
re-established, and the want of a central authority began to be felt. 
The (jovemment, which up to that period had been divided among 
the Provincial Juntas, was placed in the hands of a supreme 
Central Junta, appointed by the Provincial Juntas and consisting 
of thirty-two deputies. The members of this new Government 
assembled at Aranjucz on the 25th of September, 1808, under the 
presidency of Count Florida Blanca, and proclaimed their authority 
in a manifesto addressed to the nation. It was recognised, after 
some hesitation, by the Council of Castille, the first judiciary body 
in Spain; and even by the Tribunal of the Inquisition. In this 
manifesto, the Supreme Junta laid down the principles on which 
it puq^osed to act. It was drawn up so as to propitiate the preva- 
lent sentiments in Spain. It contains the germ of the political 
changes ardently desired by the middle classes of society, who 
wished to introduce representative (jovernment into Spain. The 
Central Junta at first conciliated the people by the adoption of cer- 
tain revolutionary measures. The views of the citizens were en- 
quired into, oaths were required of them, and retractations exacted 
from such as were suspected of partiality towards the French. 
Those who did not hold the opinions of the Junta were dismissed 
from their })osts, while those who decidedly opposed them were 
banished. The Council of Castille had to annul the Acts of Ces- 
sion and Renunciation by Charles IV. and his children, and to 
erase them from the registers. A special tribunal was appointed to 
arrest and to try as a spy every individual accused of keeping up 

* There are twenty Spanish leagues to a degree. 



THE DEFENCE OF MADRID. 463 

any communication with the* French. The estates of those Span- 
iards who had held any post on the nomination of King Joseph, 
and those of his ministers in particular, were sold by auction. 
The only persons excepted were those, who, like M. de Cevallos, 
and the Dukes del Parque and del Infantado, after accepting po- 
litical places and even posts in the household, had forsaken Joseph 
when his fortunes changed. The Prince of the Peace, who had 
incurred the unrelenting hatred of the nation, was treated with 
equal severity, as were also the members of his family : their 
goods were declared national property, and even their furniture 
was sold. Lastly, the Junta, in order to propitiate the clergy, 
allowed the Jesuits, who since the suppression of the Order had 
been banished from Spain, to return, and appointed the Bishop of 
Orense Grand Inquisitor. 

These proceedings pleased the people of Madrid, satisfied their 
resentment, and added daily to the public agitation. The Junta, 
moreover, fearing to weaken the feelings on which its own power 
depended, carefully concealed from the Nation the danger now 
impending over it from the onward march of Napoleon's army. 
But when the campaign was opened, and that each day, so to 
speak, brought the news of fresh disaster, the Junta, no longer 
able to hide the misfortunes of the army, cast the blame on the 
generals ; thus altogether loosing the bonds of discipline among 
the troops. The command of the Army of Galicia was taken from 
General Blake in consequence of the engagement at Espinosa, and 
given to the Marquis de la Romana. And after the batde of 
Tudela, Castailos, the conqueror of Baylen, was very near being 
declared a traitor by the same nation which three months previ- 
ously had honoured him as the heroic Saviour of Spain. 

Meanwhile, the Spanish troops, being no longer able to oppose 
the advance of the French on Madrid, the Junta, whose members 
acted only as popular tribunes, resolved to put the capital in a state 
of defence, regardless of the danger of exasperating a victorious 
enemy, and exposing the city to those penalties which it might 
incur by a vain resistance. The organisation of the defence was 
entrusted to General Don Thomas Morla * and to the Prince of 
Castelfranco. The pavement of the streets near the gates of the 
town was taken up ; the Palace and the enclosure of Buen- 
Retiro,f which overlooks Madrid, were fortified and defended by 
batteries ; the barracks of the Body Guard, situated on the north- 
west of the town, were garrisoned and crenelated. Redoubts were 

* The same who had been Captain General of Andalusia, and who 
commanded at Cadiz at the time of the capitulation of Baylen. 

f A former residence of the Kings of Spain, situated to the North of 
Madrid, within the walls of the city. 



464 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

raised to mask the principal gates, loop-holes were pierced in the 
outer walls, and also in all projecting buildings. More than a 
hundred pieces of ordnance defended these roughly constructed 
fortifications, which appeared to the ignorant populace to be im- 
pregnable ramparts. Nevertheless the preparations made by the 
Junta since the French had passed the Douro, and still more the 
departure of the Junta itself from Aranjuez,* immediately after the 
pass of Somo-Sierra had been forced, cooled the enthusiasm of the 
inhabitants. Private interests began to assert themselves ; they 
might even perhaps have prevailed, and Madrid have opened her 
gates, if the lowest class- among the populace, who had nothing to 
lose, and who had been too much conciliated up to that time to 
be controlled now, had not seized on authority. Fugitives from 
the Reserve Division, defeated at Somo-Sierra, who had reached 
Madrid in disorder, joined the mob, and were the more zealous 
that they hoped by a tardy display of ardour to atone for the defeat 
which they attributed to their officers, f The streets and squares 
echoed with ferocious shouts calling all citizens to arms. Those 
who dared to speak of any compromise were threatened with death 
as traitors. No flag of truce could be sent out, no negotiation 
could be opened, no proposition could be heard. 

While these things were taking place in Madrid the French army 
arrived without further opposition close to the capital. On the 2d 
of December the cavalry of the Vanguard had reached the neigh- 
bouring heights and the Emperor arrived at noon. He had in- 
tended to entor the city on that same day, it being the anniversary 
of his coronation and also of the battle of Austerlitz ; but his 
summons to surrender produced no effect, and he was obliged to 
await the coming of the infantry, which did not arrive until rather 
late in the evening, and to defer the attack until the following day. 
The Emperor fixed his head-quarters at Chamartin, in a country- 
house belonging to the Duke del Infantado, and the King remained 
in the same village. 

Firing began on the 3d of December in the morning, and lasted 
until an hour after noon. The positions on the Retiro were forced, 
the French got within the walls of the town and thence into the 
Rado and the Alcala. But the attack was less successful on the side 
of the Guards' Barracks ; the artillery failed to make a breach in 

* The Junta removed first to Talavera de la Reyna, thence to Merida ; 
and later on, to Seville. Shortly before leaving Aranjuez. the Members 
took an oath to listen to no proposal for peace until Ferdinand VII. was 
restored to the throne. 

f They rebelled against General Don Benito San Juan, their com- 
mander, who endeavoured to restrain their excesses, and massacred him. 
The soldiers suspended him by his right hand to a gibbet, and shot him. 



THE emperor's ABSOLUTISM. 465 

the massive walls of the building, and the Spaniards kept up from 
the windows a deadly fire which inflicted serious loss on the 
French. 

During the attack on Buen-Retiro, and after the occupation of 
that position, there had been some negotiations between the Mar- 
quis of Castelar, Commandant of Madrid, and Marshal Berthier, 
but they led to no result. In the evening, however, there was a 
kind of truce ; General Morla came to Chamartin, and the firing 
ceased. 

The ill-success of the defence of Buen-Retiro, and the sight of 
the enemy already master of a portion of the town, had shaken the 
confidence of the besieged : during the night the most ardent 
among them took their departure and left the field free to those 
who wished to come to terms. On the 4 th of December, at six in 
the morning, General Morla and General Don Fernand de la Vera 
presented themselves at head-quarters to treat for a capitulation. 
This was signed in the course of the morning, and the French took 
possession of the city, of which General Belliard was appointed 
Governor. The principal stipulations of the surrender were as fol- 
lows : Full and entire amnesty to those inhabitants who had taken 
up arms in defence of the town ; inviolability of private property ; 
exclusion of all other worship than the Catholic ; and maintenance 
of the tribunals until the new organization of the kingdom should 
be established. 

In this capitulation, and in the numerous documents connected 
with it, there was no mention made of the King ; he had kept 
aloof from all the negotiations as from the military operations. 
Neither was there any mention of the constitution given to Spain a 
few months before, nor of the arrangements concluded at Bayonne. 
The Emperor, acting as a Conqueror, did not consider himself 
bound by those antecedents, and exercised the full extent of sover- 
eign power, without admitting any intermediary between himself 
and the nation. All his decrees and all his orders being made 
without the concurrence of the King, the position of the latter at 
head-quarters, where he bore a vain title without any functions, 
became quite unbearable. Having no authority to exercise at 
Madrid, Joseph would not go thither, and preferred to withdraw to 
one of the country houses belonging to the Kings of Spain, while 
aviraiting the course of events which should either restore him to his 
rights, or make him resolve upon renouncing them altogether. He 
therefore left Chamartin on the 6th of December, and took up his 
abode at Prado, an ancient castle built by Charles V. in an im- 
mense wood about a league from Madrid. 

The strictest order and discipline were observed by the French 
troops on entering Madrid after the capitulation, and the inhabi- 



466 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tants suffered only from the evils inseparable from the presence of 
a foreign army. Entire tranquillity reigned in the town from the 
4th of December, and every one was free to return to his ordinary 
occupations. 

But this moderate conduct, which was rendered all the more 
generous by the hostility of the inhabitants, obtained for the French 
neither regard nor gratitude from those whom they spared ; and 
hatred, which the clemency of the Conqueror had failed to abate, 
might be discerned in the gloomy and severe countenances of the 
few inhabitants who showed themselves outside their houses. 
None came to meet the French, none sought to propitiate their new 
masters by attentions to the generals and officers. Even curiosity 
seemed to have lost its power. For several days no women ap- 
peared in the streets ; none even could be seen at the windows. 
The theatres were re-opened by order of the French Government, 
but no Spaniards attended the performances. At the houses in 
which the soldiers were quartered, everything they required was 
either given them, or they were suffered to take it, but nothing was 
offered, and the masters of the house avoided as far as possible all 
contact with their guests. Never did the inflexible Castilian 
character display more obstinacy, and never was the greatest mis- 
fortune that can happen to a capital city, that of falling into the 
power of the enemy, borne with more dignity and pride. 

Struck by the extraordinary deportment of the people, Napoleon 
was obliged to recognise that he had been mistaken, and that the 
seizure of Madrid had not produced the effect he had intended. 
Moreover, that capital, which is inferior in population and wealth 
to several other towns in the kingdom, does not exert the influence 
— often a dangerous one — that the vast capitals of some European 
States exercise over the rest of the nation. In taking Madrid he 
had only taken a city whose surrender would not have involved 
that of Toledo, distant only five-and-thirty miles, unless troops had 
been sent there also. 

In vain did the F^mperor try to change the public mind by using 
the means that had succeeded elsewhere. He had flattered him- 
self that his famous name, and the desire to behold so extraordinary 
a man would have attracted the populace to him ; that the road 
from Madrid to Chamartin would be thronged with a curious mul- 
titude ; and that he would be watched and followed. Nothing of 
the kind occurred. He passed through the town to visit the palace 
of the Kings of Spain ; no one followed nor even stayed to look at 
him on his way. He held a grand review of the army on the plain 
between Chamartin and INIadrid. It had been announced two days 
beforehand in the hope that some of the inhabitants of the town 
would be attracted by curiosity, and that he should receive some 



THE emperor's SPEECH. 467 

kind of homage from them. In this also he was disappointed : the 
review took place, but there was not a single Spaniard present. 

This determined enmity, and still more this disdainful indiffer- 
ence, were profoundly irritating to Napoleon, and were probably 
not without influence on his ulterior views for Spain. From the 
measures which he took after the capitulation of Madrid, and 
especially from his proclamation of the 7th of December to the 
Spaniards, it is clear that he already contemplated the annexation 
of at least a part of the Peninsula to his Empire. The proclama- 
tion ends with these remarkable words : ' * If my efforts are in vain, 
if you do not respond to my confidence, it will only remain for 
me to treat you as conquered provinces and to place my brother on 
another throne. I shall then put the crown of Spain on my own 
head, and I shall know how to make evil doers respect it, for God 
has given me both the strength and the will to overcome every ob- 
stacle. " During Joseph's stay at Prado, the Emperor visited his 
brother and had a long conference with him, but it brought about 
no change in their relative positions, and the two brothers parted 
mutually dissatisfied. Although the King whom he had himself 
created six months before was present, Napoleon continued to 
reign alone. He alleged that as he had conquered Spain, all 
other rights had disappeared before those of conquest, and that it 
was no longer in virtue of the cession of Charles IV., or the re- 
nunciation of the Infante, but by right of arms, that he was master 
of Spain. 

A few days later, on the 15th of December, when the necessity 
for his return to France had become urgent, the Emperor received 
a deputation from the city of Madrid. This step, which had been 
concerted with the Municipality, was taken ostensibly to request 
that King Joseph would assume the reins of Government and enter 
the Capital ; but its real aim was to afford Napoleon an oppor- 
tunity of manifesting, more clearly than he had hitherto done, his 
sentiments and views with regard to Spain. 

' ' The Bourbons, ' ' he says in his reply to the deputation, * 
* * can no longer reign in Europe. The dissensions in the Royal 
Family have been brought about by the English. The real de- 
sign of the Duke del Infantado, a tool of England, is proved, by 
papers recently discovered in his house, to have been, not the over- 
throw of King Charles and his favourite, but the preponderance of 
England in Spain — a senseless project, the consequence of which 
would have been endless war and bloodshed. No power can exist 
on the continent if influenced {infiuencee — sic) by England. If 

* The discourse in full may be found" in the Monitetir oi 25th of De- 
cember, 1808. 



468 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

there be any Powers who desire this, their desire is senseless, and 
sooner or later will prove their ruin. 

" It would be easy for me, and I might be obliged, to govern 
Spain, by appointing as many Viceroys as there are provinces. I 
do not however refuse \o yield my right of conquest to the King, and 
to establish him in Madrid when the 30,000 inhabitants of that 
capital, ecclesiastics, nobles, merchants and lawyers, shall have 
manifested their sentiments and their fidelity, set an example to 
the provinces, enlightened the people, and made the nation un- 
derstand that its existence and its happiness depend on a King 
and a liberal constitution, favourable to the people, and adverse 
only to the selfishness and pride of the grandees. 

" If such are the sentiments of the inhabitants of Madrid, let her 
30,000 citizens assemble in the churches, let them in presence of 
the Blessed Sacrament take an oath, not from the lips only, but 
from the heart, and without any Jesuitical reservation. Let them 
swear support, love, and fidelity to the King ; let priests in the 
confessional and in the pulpit, let merchants in their correspond- 
ence, let lawyers in their writings and their speeches impress these 
sentiments on the people ! Then I will divest myself of the right 
of conquest ; I will place the King on the throne ; and it shall be 
my pleasing duty to act towards the Spaniards as a faithful friend. 
The present generation may differ in its opinions — too many pas- 
sions have been called into play ; but your children will bless me 
as your regenerator ; they will mark the days I have spent among 
vou as memorable, and from those davs will date the prosperity of 
Spain." 

Hesitation is to be detected in this discourse. It is evident that 
the hostile attitude of Austria, which was becoming more apparent 
ever}^ day, and her armaments, had convinced the Emperor of the 
nece^ity of adjourning the execution of his designs on Spain. 
He perceived that the time he could still devote to that country 
would be insufficient for the complete subjugation and dismember- 
ment of the Peninsula. 

Among the numerous decrees issued by Napoleon during his 
stay at Chamartin, and which affected the various branches of the 
administration, many deserve to be quoted for their liberal tend- 
ency. Such are the abolition of the Inquisition, the suppression 
of the customs between province and province, and that of feudal 
rights and seignorial justice, the revocation of all alienation of the 
public revenues, the reduction of the number of monasteries to one 
third, the prohibition of vows under the age of thirty, the granting 
of liberty to monks to leave their communities and to return to 
the class of secular clergy. No doubt these decrees were in con- 
formity with the principles of a wise administration, but they were 



,^ JOSEPH AND NAPOLEON. 469 

only meant as a bid for public favour, and as no measures were, 
nor could have been, taken, to put them into execution, they re- 
mained for the most part a dead letter. It was otherwise with re- 
gard to an Imperial decree by which the Dukes del Infantado and 
d'Osuna, the Prince of Castelfranco, the Counts Fernan-Nunez, 
and d'Altamira, Don Pedro Cavallar, and the Bishop of Saragossa 
were declared traitors to their country, and their property was con- 
fiscated towards payment of the cost of the war and to indemnify 
those Frenchmen or Spaniards in the service of the Kin^, who 
might have sustained losses through its attendant circumstances. 
The administration of these properties was confided to French 
agents under the authority of the Comte de Laforet, French am- 
bassador at Madrid, and of the Baron Freville, Master of Requests. * 

The impending rupture with Austria on the one hand, and on 
the other the advance of an English corps, f which was seen on the 
20th of December marching on Foro and Valladolid, hastened the 
Emperor's departure from Chamartin. He would not miss the 
ardently desired opportunity of fighting the English. But while 
advancing to meet them he could not venture to leave Madrid in a 
state of uncertainty and confusion in which he himself had involved 
public affairs. Being forced therefore to set up a Government of 
some sort, he took what came to his hand, and resolved, without 
waiting for the execution of any of the conditions he had dictated 
a week before, to bring the King once more on the scene, although 
he had until then excluded him from all participation in Govern- 
ment affairs. The two brothers met, and a somewhat angry ex- 
planation ensued. Their mutual grievances were discussed ; but 
as the Emperor needed a tool, he overlooked some few points of 
offence. At length he appeased his brother's resentment by in- 
forming him, that together with the title of Lieutenant-General to 
the Emperor he would give him direct command over the troops 
of the Marshal Duke of Belluna and the Marshal Duke of Dantzic. 
These two corps formed a total of forty thousand excellent soldiers. 
Both were holding Madrid in check, Marshal Victor having taken 
up a position at Aranjuez, and Marshal Lefebvre at Talavera de 
la Reyna. 

Joseph could not resist this flattering concession. Although the 

* Or " referendary." An officer whose duty consists in reporting peti- 
tions to the Council of State. (Translator's Note.) 

f These troops, commanded by General Moore, had marched from 
Portugal to the assistance of Madrid ; but, surprised at the rapidity of 
the Emperor's movements, and also advancing with extreme circum- 
spection, they had done nothing to promote the safety of the capital. In- 
stead of retreating directly into Portugal, they marched towards Le Car- 
rion, threatening Marshal Soult who was at Suldafia. 



470 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

extent of his authority was but vaguely defined, he conceived great 
hopes for his future freedom of action in the absence of the Em- 
peror, and the brothers parted apparently retonciled. 

Napoleon left Chamartin on the morning of the 2 2d of Decem- 
ber. He halted that evening at Guadarrama, at the foot of the 
Puerto of the same name, which his guards had crossed that day, 
in spite of the intense cold and thickly-falling snow, and the next 
morning he marched with his accustomed rapidity to Tordesillas, 
where he crossed the Douro on the 24th of December. But Sir 
John Moore, who after crossing that river at Toro, had moved 
towards Sahagun to attack Marshal Soult, conjointly with the army 
of Galicia under the command of the Marquis de la Romana, 
received timely news of Napoleon's approach. At the head of his 
army, consisting of about 30,000 men, he left Sahagun, crossed 
the Esla at Valencia-de-Don-Juan, and at Castro-Gouzals, reached 
Benevento before the French, and retreated on Corunna. The 
French made vain efforts to reach the English. Some skirmishes 
with the rear-guard had no important results, and nothing was to 
be done, except to follow on the track of an enemy whom it was 
no longer possible to draw into a conflict. 

While the cavalr)' under Marshal Bessieres was pressing on the 
English, and Marshal Soult was driving the Marquis de la Romana 
and his army before him along the road to Leon, the Emperor 
arrived at Benevento. He stayed there a few days, and advanced 
thence to Astorga, where he met INIarshal Soult. But, being aware 
of the uselessness of the pursuit, and unwilling to go too far out of 
the road to France, he went no further. He ordered Marshal Soult 
to pursue the English and to drive ihcni into the sea at the point of the 
sword. He then returned to Benevento, and went from thence to 
Valladolid, where he fixed his head-quarters on the 7th of January. 

For twelve days Marshal Soult followed up the English closely, 
but was never able to come up with them. The English army 
suffered greatly in this hurried retreat, and on the nth of Januar}' 
they arrived under the walls of Corunna. There, they must of 
necessity hold out, in order to secure time for the embarkation of 
the army. On the 13th and 14th General Moore occupied a 
position about a mile from the town, and provided for the embark- 
ation of his sick, his equipments, and the artillery not required for 
fighting. The French, whose march had been delayed by the 
necessity of replacing the bridges destroyed by the English, only 
arrived in presence of the enemy on the 15th. They attacked on 
the 1 6th, in the morning. The English fought with great courage 
and held their position all day. In the evening they withdrew to 
the gardens surrounding the town, whence the French could not 
dislodge them on account of the darkness. 



CORUNNA. 471 



At the beginning of the action, Sir John Moore had been killed 
by a cannon-ball, and shortly afterward General Baird, who had 
taken his place in the command, was disabled. But this two-fold 
loss made no change in the English front, nor in the plans made 
by Sir John Moore. The English army embarked in the night of 
the 1 6th. On the morning of the 17th their fleet was under sail, 
and the French could offer no opposition to its progress. A few 
cannon-balls fired from the heights surrounding the town only 
struck two or three of the English ships. 

The Emperor, who had left Valladolid on the 17th of January 
to return to France, heard with extreme displeasure of this issue to 
the brief campaign against the English under Sir John Moore. 
His hopes of cutting off the retreat of the troops, and annihilating 
them, were disappointed, and all that he might say and publish 
to exaggerate the losses of the English, to represent their retreat as 
a disgraceful flight, and their inaction at the opening of the cam- 
paign as cowardice and treachery towards the Spanish nation ; in 
short, all the recrimination by which wounded pride seeks to con- 
sole itself, availed nothing against the facts. The English had 
slipped out of his hands, soon to appear again, made stronger and 
wiser by experience, and to oppose his designs against the indepen- 
dence and integrity of the Peninsula by a determined, and in the 
end, a successful resistance. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

. The King leaves his retirement and proceeds to Aranjuez, and thence to 
Ocafia where Marshal Victor is — The beauty of Aranjuez— The King 
takes up his residence at Florida — A Spanish division under the Duke 
del Infantado is defeated by Marshal Victor — Precipitate retreat of the 
English, who are pursued by Marshal Soult — The King reconstructs 
his household and makes his entry into Madrid — A favourable change 
in the feelings of the inhabitants is apparent. 

The King, being recalled to public affairs because he was wanted, 
quitted his retirement at Prado and placed himself at the head of 
the troops under his command. He proceeded to Aranjuez, and 
^thence to the advanced posts of the corps under Marshal Victor, 
who was occupying Ocaiia at the entrance to La Mancha. I 
accompanied him on this expedition, and I found it as pleasant as 
it was instructive. 

We started in very beautiful weather, on the 28th of December. 
On leaving Prado, we made directly, without passing through 
Madrid, for the Toledo Bridge in order to reach the Aranjuez road. 
It is a splendid road, but the country is gloomy and bare of trees. 
At five (Spanish) leagues from Madrid is the tower of Val-de-Moro, 
and one league farther on, the valley, watered by the Jarama and 
the Tagus, comes in view. The aspect of the country becomes 
more cheerful ; long rows of trees mark the banks and the neigh- 
bourhood of the two rivers. The background of the picture con- 
sists of low hills, partly planted with trees. A somewhat steep de- 
scent leads down into the valley, and at a short distance from this 
a magnificent bridge of twenty arches spans the Jarama. It is a 
perfect semicircle, beautifully proportioned. Everything denotes 
the approach to the palace of a great monarch. 

From the Jarama bridge to Aranjuez the landscape continually 
increases in beauty. Cultivated fields, plentiful vegetation, groups 
of trees on either side of the road attract and please the eyes of the 
traveller. At length we reached the banks of the Tagus. This 
famous river flows through the valley in which the town and palace 
of Aranjuez are situated. In its numberless curves, it encloses 
fresh and fertile gardens, lends its waters for the needs of the in- 
habitants of this beautiful district, and on leaving it, flows on to 
fertilise the immense plain that extends from Aranjuez to Toledo. 



ARANJUEZ. 473 

The town and castle are situated on the left bank of the river. 
We crossed it coming from Madrid, by a bridge which the Span- 
iards had burned in their retreat, after our entry into Madrid, and 
which had been temporarily restored. 

On the day after his arrival the King went to Ocaiia, and I took 
advantage of hjs absence to explore the palace and gardens. The 
architecture of the palace is simple, but, generally speaking, in good 
taste. The principal block of the building, and the court, were 
constructed by Philip IV., Charles II., and Philip V.; [he two 
wings were added by Charles III. and Charles IV. The distribu- 
tion, of the interior is good. There are some very fine pictures. 

The most remarkable of the gardens is that one nearest to the 
Castle and which is called La Isla. It is picturesquely situated on 
an island in the Tagus. Part of this river has been turned from 
its course, and flows beneath the palace walls, and its waters are 
arrested by two artificial cascades which greatly add to the beauty 
of the place. The garden itself has little beauty but that of its sit- 
uation to boast of. It is adorned with marble and bronze foun- 
tains, dedicated to the various divinities of fable, such as Neptune, 
Bacchus, Venus, etc. These are of little merit, and the repetition 
of such ornaments, all in a straight line, is wearisome. In short, 
the efforts of art correspond ill with the natural beauty of the site. 
The Prince's Garden, in which is the building known as Casa del 
Labrador, is only visited for the sake of its surroundings. It is a 
small house, consisting of one principal block with two parallel 
wings. A basement supports its one story, which is surmounted 
by a very low attic. The architecture is simple, but its projections 
and recesses are loaded with busts and vases. 

The interior was, when I went over it, of extreme magnificence, 
and it would have been difficult to describe the beautiful and cosdy 
objects of all kinds, heaped together, or, so to speak, warehoused 
in so small a place. Valuable tapestries embroidered in gold and 
silk, products of the manufactories of Lyons and Valencia, 
adorned every room. Marble and alabaster had been lavished on 
the door-ways and chimney-pieces. The panels, the seats, the 
smallest articles of furniture were of mahogany, artistically carved 
and gilt with the utmost elegance. Costly clocks of the most 
varied designs stood on the tables, the consoles, and the chimney- 
pieces. These were particularly to the taste of Charles IV. who 
had built this sumptuous edifice, and who was said to take pleasure 
in pulling to pieces the numerous clocks he had collected, and 
putting them together again. 

Among the many remarkable objects gathered together on this 
spot, where luxury and magnificence rather than good taste pre- 
vailed, what struck me most was a mahogany cabinet constructed 



474 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

in Paris in separate pieces and sent thence to Aranjuez. The four 
principal panels contained paintings by Girodet, representing the 
four seasons. The style is somewhat mannered, but the execution 
is good, and they are not unworthy of that great master's reputa- 
tion. 

On leaving Aranjuez, the King, who was not yet disposed to re- 
turn to Madrid, took up his abode at Florida, a charming country 
house built at the gates of the town, and greatly embellished by its 
owner the Duchess of Alba. As for me, I settled myself in 
Madrid, in an apartment assigned to me in the palace, in my 
capacity as Superintendent of the Royal Household, and began to 
discharge my duties. 

It was at this time that my friend Stanislas Girardin left us to 
return to France. He had hitherto held the post of First Equerry, 
but the King had imposed certain conditions on him, if he wished 
to retain that post, which did not suit him, and he would not re- 
main in Spain. His departure was a great grief to me. Thus 
ended the year 1808, the last of happiness for me. All the suc- 
ceeding years, so long as I was engaged in public affairs, were but 
a series of trials and misfortunes, until the catastrophe took place 
which restored me to private life. 

The departure of the Emperor and of the troops he had with 
him, to fight the English in the Province of Leon had revived the 
courage, of the Spaniards. A considerable body of them, organ- 
ized by the Government Junta then at Seville, and commanded 
by the Duke del Infantado, had advanced on Madrid early in 
January 1809. The Spanish troops crossed the Tagus in several 
places, and some detachments advanced as far as Arganda, five 
leagues from the capital, where their appearance caused great con- 
sternation. It was even proposed that the French military estab- 
lishments and the French families should take shelter in Buen- 
Retiro. But the alarm was transient. A move made by the 
Duke de Belluna, who, as I have already said, was occupying 
Toledo and Aranjuez, forced the Spaniards back over the Tagus, 
and even drove them from the left bank of the river. The Marshal 
pursued and defeated them on the 13th of January near Ucles, 
halfway between Madrid and Cuen9a. Two thousand prisoners 
and some flags were the trophies of the day. 

After this victory, there could be no obstacle to the return of the 
King to Madrid, nor to his residence there. Deputations were 
sent almost daily from the capital to invite him thither, and he at 
last resolved to accede to the wishes of the inhabitants. He had 
already during his sojourn at Vittoria replaced those Ministers who 
had left him after Baylen. The Duke, de Campo-Alanje (M. 
Negretti) succeeded as Minister of Foreign Affairs to M. de Ceval- 



FAVOURABLE SYMPTOMS. 475 



los, and Don Manuel Romero as Minister of the Interior to Don 
Jose Jovellanos. Don Pablo Arribas was appointed Minister of 
Police, a post which until then had not been filled up. Before 
re-entering the capital the King proceeded to re-construct his 
household, and again found, among the most illustrious families 
of Spain, grandees willing to replace those who, after accepting 
appointments at Bayonne, had deserted their posts at Madrid, be- 
cause of the defeat at Baylen. The Marquis de Val de Carzana 
was nominated Grand Chamberlain (he had filled the same office 
under Charles IV.), the Duke de Frias, Grand Master of the 
Household (Mayor-domo Mayor), the Prince de Masserano, Grand 
Master of the Ceremonies, and the Duke de Campo-Alanje, Grand 
Equerry. Several subordinate posts were also filled up ; the Mar- 
quis de Monte-Hermoso, de St. Adrian, and many others of distin- 
guished birth, became chamberlains, equerries, and stewards. 

The Court being thus re-established, the King prepared to make 
his entry into Madrid. This took place on the 2 2d of January, 
1809, but the procession was altogether a military one. The King 
and his suite were on horseback. I was present, and had an 
opportunity of observing all that took place. The streets through 
which the procession passed were not deserted, occasional shouts 
were raised, and if there were neither warmth nor enthusiasm, 
there was no positive antipathy visible on the part of the spectators. 
In general there was an expression of curiosity, in some few cases 
one of resignation, in others there was hope, but no signs of dis- 
like or contempt were exhibited. The King dismounted at the 
Collegiate Church of San-Isidoro and made a simple and manly 
speech. One phrase only was remarkable. ' ' The unity of our 
holy religion, ' ' it ran, ' ' the independence of the Monarchy, the 
integrity of its territory, and the liberty of its citizens, are condi- 
tions of the oath I took on receiving the crown, which shall not 
lose in dignity while I wear it. ' ' 

He endeavoured by these words to refute the rumours that had 
been circulated concerning the intentions of his brother, and 
bound himself in some sort to the nation by engagements which it 
was out of his power to fulfil. This indication of independence 
was of course very displeasing at Paris. 

After the religious ceremony the King proceeded to the Palace, 
where he found a large concourse of persons awaiting him in his 
apartments. The next and following days he went out, showed 
himself in the town, and inspected the public institutions, espe- 
cially the hospitals. He was tolerably well received. There were 
decided symptoms of a favourable change in the feelings of the in- 
habitants and in the aspect of the town. Aversion was diminish- 
ing, hope and confidence seemed about to revive, and it must be 



47^ . MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

said that this change was due to the King personally. His natural 
disposition was of the greatest service to him under the then cir- 
cumstances ; his amiability, his popularity, and above all the 
preference he evinced in all things for Spaniards over Frenchmen, 
were pleasing to the nation. At the same time, the general weari- 
ness of strife, the misfortunes of the war, the departure of the 
English, who had re-embarked after Corunna, and the apparent 
hopelessness of resistance, were concurrent causes which induced 
the people to lay down arms, and they began to accustom them- 
selves to a yoke that proved less heavy than they had expected it 
to be. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Impossibility of a lasting reconciliation between the Spanish Nation and 
their new King, because of the state of subjection in which the latter 
was kept by the Emperor — Surrender of Saragossa — Victory gained by 
the Duke de Belluna over General Cuesta — Creation of a Council of 
State — The attempt to recruit the Finances by the sale of National 
Property — Increasing dissensions between the King and the Emperor, 
the result of which was to paralyze every Government measure and to 
render Joseph's authority nugatory — Appendix : Some particulars con- 
cerning the second siege of Saragossa. 

Had it been possible to profit by this better state of feeling, a 
thorough reconciliation might perhaps have taken place. But to 
secure this, a perfectly independent Government, which would 
have been free to conduct public affairs in any way it thought fit, 
was necessary. Sufficient resources in money would also have 
been required, so that the whole expense of the support of the 
troops should not fall on the people. We had neither of these 
things. Although the King was at the head of the army, the 
generals under his orders always corresponded directly with the 
French Ministry, and received orders from them, which were fre- 
quently opposed to those that emanated from Madrid. The 
French Ambassador and the Master of Requests, who were charged 
with the administration of the property which the Emperor had 
confiscated, and the numerous agents employed by them, all quite 
independent of the royal authority, exercised their functions with 
severity, which probably they themselves deplored, but which it 
was out of their power to moderate, and this severity completely 
alienated the people^whom the King was endeavouring to concili- 
ate. On the other hand, the absolute deficiency of financial 
resources allowed of no protective measures. The public treasury, 
being utterly empty, could not supply funds for the most indis- 
pensable expenses. None of the public servants were paid, and all 
those who had taken the side of the new King, or who from par- 
ticular circumstances had been obliged to serve under him, now 
that they received no salary, were added to the number of his ene- 
mies, instead of being a support to him. Thus, there was in 
reality no guarantee for the future ; the situation was simply that 
of an uncertain conquest, made by the force of arms only, and 



478 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

which was to be retained by that same force alone. Such at least 
was my impression. But it was not the King's ; he hoped for 
very different results, and thought to succeed by conciliating the 
Spaniards and admitting none but them to the more important 
posts. Several persons who had constant access to him endeav- 
oured to foster these illusions ; and victory, too, at the beginning 
of his reign seemed to favour the hopes of the King. Saragossa 
surrendered, after a terrible siege, on the 21st of February, 1809.* 
Two days later General Sebastiani f defeated and scattered, between 
Madridejos and Consuegra, a Spanish force which was advancing 
under the Duke del Infantado towards the Tagus ; and four weeks 
after this, on the 28th of March, the Duke de Belluna gained an 
important victory over the Spanish army, which had assembled 
again under General Cuesta. The battle was fought in Estrema- 
dura, near the Guadiana, between Don Benito and Medelin ; the 
latter gave its name to the day. 

The Spaniards lost 7000 men ; 3000 were taken prisoners. At 
the same time, a corps, commanded by the Duke d'Urbino, that 
was advancing on Toledo, was defeated near Ciudad-Real by 
General Sebastiani, and its scattered remnant took refuge in the 
Sierra-Morena. Thus, by the end of March, the French were 
masters of the whole of La Mancha and Estremadura. This suc- 
cession of victories, and the accounts from Germany announcing 
the first triumphs of the Emperor over the Austrians, could not fail 
to make some impression on the population of Madrid, and at the 
same time gave confidence to Joseph's Government, which began 
to act with increased decision. The King created a Council of 
State, composed of thirty members, all Spaniards, to which, how- 
ever, I was afterwards summoned, as was M. Ferri-Pisani, who, 
like me, was made a Councillor of State, although we were both 
French. The King wished to avail himself of the experience we 
had acquired in the administration of affairs, in support of certain 
projects which he was maturing, and which were founded on the 
principles adopted in France. Our usefulness being the cause of 
our appointment, and the conviction of our colleagues that neither 
of us had the smallest pretensions to more exalted posts, justified 
our nomination in their eyes. 

The Government being thus organized, its earliest efforts were 
devoted to the recruitment of the finances. It sought to raise 
revenues for the State by the sale of the national property, under 
which denomination the property of the monks was included. 

* The reader will find some details of that memorable siege in the Ap- 
pendix to this chapter. 

f He had succeeded Marshal Lefebvre in the command of the 4th di- 
vision of the army. 



FATAL DISSENSIONS. 479 

This was in fact the only operation by which Spain could restore 
her credit, and even at the present time it is her only means of so 
doing. But the Ministers, all Spaniards, and unaccustomed to 
the abrupt changes which the Revolution had made familiar to us 
in France, could only enter slowly and with difficulty on these un- 
known paths, and niuch precious time was wasted in discussion. 
Nevertheless they worked hard, they endeavoured to inspire confi- 
dence, they offered opportunities to lovers of novelty, and a wel- 
come was given to all who had any experience or judgment. They 
made use of the smallest events to endeavour to consolidate the 
new Government. Russia had accredited the Baron de Mohren- 
heim as Charge d' Affaires, until the arrival of a Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary, and Denmark had sent fresh letters of credit to Count 
Burke, her Minister at Madrid. This recognition by two Powers, 
one of whom had so much political influence in Europe, was a 
great event for us, and we received the diplomats with as much 
ceremony as circumstances would permit. 

We did our very best to emerge from the state of convulsion m 
which the nation had been kept for the last two years. Some token 
of submission from the towns which had been entered by the French, 
a few deputations which formally presented themselves, gave the 
Government opportunities of asserting itself, and the newspapers 
opportunities for articles that established its existence. 

But all these efforts, although they were, in general, wisely 
made, and tended to a desirable end, went to pieces against two 
insurmountable obstacles. The first was the resistance of the 
nation, which had not been conquered either by the defeat of the 
troops of the Junta, or by the departure of the English, and the 
second was the system that the Emperor had adopted with regard 
to the affairs of Spain, and by which the ill-feeling between the 
brothers was wrought up to the highest pitch. As all the letters 
written by the King to his brother passed under my eyes, I soon 
became aware of this dangerous rupture, and foresaw its fatal con- 
sequences. It began as follows. The more or less sincere recon- 
ciliation which had taken place at Prado, at the time of the Em- 
peror's departure in pursuit of the English, seemed to have re- 
stored a good understanding between the brothers. But it did 
not last long. Napoleon, when replacing authority in the hands 
of Joseph, had only parted with it nominally ; he had retained its 
reality. The King soon perceived this by the conduct of the Gen- 
erals and French Agents who had remained in Spain, and his 
annoyance was extreme. He complained bitterly in his letters of 
the independence of him assumed by all these persons. The 
strong expressions he used, the threats, and even the personal in- 
vective which he frequently added to his complaints, roused the 



480 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Emperor's resentment, for he could not endure that a King made 
by himself should affect a tone of equality, and venture to speak 
as a sovereign. All correspondence soon ceased between them, or 
at least the Emperor no longer replied to the letters which he 
received from his brother. He transmitted his orders directly to 
the commandants of the French troops in Spain, and several 
arrangements which were very hurtful to Joseph, alike as King 
and Commander-in-chief, were prescribed and executed without 
his participation, often indeed without his knowledge. 

Then, again, the French, who had reckoned on the King's 
gratitude and favours, were jealous of the preference for the Span- 
iards which he invariably exhibited, and rejoiced at the affronts 
heaped upon him by the Emperor. Everything seemed influ- 
enced by this malignant state of feeling. No measure of internal 
administration, no financial expedient, could succeed, because the 
pretensions of French administrators interfered with them. Before 
anything else was provided for, the French army must be paid and 
provisioned, and on this pretext, all the public money was claimed 
or even seized in advance. Ordering, regulating, taking or de- 
stroying all things at their pleasure in their respective provinces, 
these administrators not only ignored the authority of the King's 
officers, but even forbade subordinates to recognise it. A still 
more fatal spirit of independence among the military was openly 
established and soon brought the evil to a climax. 

As the Emperor had quitted Spain without leaving instructions 
or even general directions for the conduct of the war, each Com- 
mander of an army-corps carried it on independently and accord- 
ing to his^own ideas. The King's authority was indeed supreme ; 
he was the Emperor's lieutenant, and, by right of this title. Com- 
mander of all the armies in Spain ; but he could not exercise his 
command. Marshal Jourdan, his Major-General, who had won 
experience and fame by brilliant successes during the first years of 
the Revolution, had long been a stranger to military affairs. He 
had had no share in the glory of the latter wars, and was not 
among the generals who had served under Napoleon in Italy, 
Egypt, and Germany. Consequently, he did not possess the 
influence necessary for controlling exaggerated pretensions, and 
concentrating the actual power in his own hands. His extreme 
caution and his dread of offending the Emperor, whom he knew 
to be ill disposed towards him, added to the difficulty of his posi- 
tion, and to the inefficiency of the King's Commander-in-Chief.* 

* It seems difficult to suppose that the indifference shown by the Em- 
peror to Marshal Jourdan could be caused by any feeling of jealousy ; 
yet the following circumstance might lead to that conclusion. King 
Joseph, who had always entertained a great affection for Marshal Jour- 



THE king's position. 48 1 

With materials such as these, it was not possible to build up a 
stable and lasting edifice. The hopes that had been raised by a 
few months of repose, and by our continued military successes, 
quickly vanished, and the position of the French in Spain soon 
became more critical than ever. 

dan, requested his brother, when he conferred the title of Duke of Valmy 
on Kellerman, to make Marshal Jourdan Duke of Fleurus. " I shall do 
nothing of the kind," replied the Emperor, angrily, " I should be making 
him greater than myself." 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXVII. 



The Second Siege of Saragossa. 

This fortified city, that has become famous by sustaining two sieges 
within the short space of six months, had been invested for the second 
time immediately after the battle of Tudela. The army corps commanded 
by Marshal Moncey invested it, on the 27th of November, 1808. The 
entire population of the town were in arms, and a considerable number of 
peasants from all parts of Arragon had voluntarily shut themselves up 
within it. There were in all fifty thousand armed men, and abundant 
stores of provisions. General Palafox was in command, and his stead- 
fastness and self-devotion were not less admirable under this second trial 
than in the first. The town is situated on the right bank of the Ebro, and 
communicates by a bridge with a suburb on the left bank. It thus com- 
mands the course of the river. Its position is of considerable strength, 
but there are no regular fortifications. The courage and constancy of the 
inhabitants would have to compensate for the absence of artificial means 
of defence. 

For some time the French flattered themselves that the reverses just 
sustained by Spanish troops, the occupation uf Madrid, the departure of 
the EngUsh, in short, all the events of an unsuccessful war, would make 
some impression on the minds of the inhabitants, and would shake their 
constancy. In hopes of this, free communication was allowed, and care 
was taken that military reports and newspapers should enter the town. 
Not the slightest change ensued. The defenders of Saragossa were filled 
with supernatural confidence by their belief in the special protection of 
the Virgin,* and thought themselves invincible. Summonses to sur- 
render, and proposals of capitulation, were rejected. The threat that the 
town would be treated as a place taken by storm, and that the inhabitants 
should be put to the sword, was answered by fresh vows to defend it to 
the last extremity, and to be buried under its ruins rather than to yield. 
These vows were almost literally fulfilled. 

When all hope of conciliation was over, the work of the siege com- 
menced, and was steadily pushed forward under Marshal Lannes who 
had succeeded Marshal Moncey, 

The month of December was passed in gaining possession of the ap- 
proaches to the town, and the exterior defences. The Spanish forces 
were successively dislodged from all their outposts, and reduced to the 

* Saragossa is under the special protection of the Virgin, called here the Virgen del 
Pilar, because the miraculous image of the Virgin is placed on the summit of a pillar. 
The annals of Saragossa are full of miracles worked by the Virgin in favour of the inhab- 
itants. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXVII. 483 

defence of the town and its suburbs only. During these various attacks, 
the engines of the siege, the greater part of which had been sent from 
Pampeluna, arrived. 

The first parallel v/as opened on the night of the 29th of December. 
During the next month an advance was made, and breaching batteries 
were constructed. 

At last, on January the 26th, the batteries were unmasked, and the at- 
tack was begun. The French firing soon silenced that of the besieged. 
So soon as the breaches were practicable, the French scaled the walls in- 
trepidly and seized on the openings of some streets. But they met with 
greater obstacles within the town than those they had overcome to enter 
it. Every house was a fortress, and at every corner there was a battery 
that had to be stormed ; while a murderous and well-directed fire stopped 
the French at each step. At distances so short, artillery became useless ; 
the sappers and miners had to be called upon, and house after house was 
blown up in succession. Communications from one street to another 
involved regular works, and much labour. This subterranean warfare 
lasted twenty days, and one third of the town was a heap of ruins, yet 
the besieged gave no sign of yielding. At last, the Marshal having given 
orders to seize the suburb on the left bank of the Ebro, so as to shell the 
town throughout its extent, and this attack having been successful, the 
endurance of the inhabitants gave way at last. The garrison was con- 
fined within and restricted to the small island of houses which includes 
the church of Nuestra Sefiora del Pilar, the only one still standing. In 
this extremity the Junta of the town demanded to capitulate ; but Mar- 
shal Lannes refused his consent, and finally, on the 21st of February, the 
French, pressing their advantage, occupied the whole town, which was 
forced to surrender at discretion. On the whole, the conqueror used his 
victory with moderation ; two monks only were shot. The garrison sur- 
rendered and were sent as prisoners into France. Those soldiers who 
consented to take an oath of allegiance to King Joseph were set at lib- 
erty. A small number took advantage of this. General Palafox was 
dangerously ill when the town fell into the power of the French. He was 
taken to Bayonne, thence to Paris, and imprisoned at Vincennes. 

Thus ended the second siege of Saragossa, after lasting nearly three 
months. History offers few examples of so obstinate a defence. Of the 
numerous troops composing the garrison when the siege began, only 
15,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry laid down their arms before the French ; 
20,000 men had perished, 13,000 were in the hospitals. The interior of 
the town presented a sickening spectacle. The public buildings, churches, 
and houses, were crumbling into ruin. Infectious fevers had broken out 
ill the hospitals, and in those quarters of the town where the non-com- 
batant portion of the inhabitants had been crowded together. There were 
five or six hundred deaths daily, and the dead bodies, heaped up on the 
steps and entrances of the churches, often remained exposed for several 
days before they could be buried. An ominous silence reigned in the 
deserted streets. The very victors shrank from entering the town, and 
Saragossa, though conquered, still threatened her conquerors with death. 
From time to time a few inhabitants might be discerned among the ruins, 
wrapped in their cloaks, and scarcely daring to accost each other ; but 
when they met, one name, uttered in accents of the deepest grief, broke 
the silence : it was Jesus ! 

Saragossa long remained uninhabited. The troops and the administra- 
tion established themselves outside the walls. The garrison was relieved 
every day. 



484 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

This melancholy and bloody conquest was nevertheless a very impor- 
tant one to the French. Saragossa subsequently became the centre of 
their military operations in Arragon, and the key of the nearest communi- 
cation with France, by way of Jaca, a town situated at the entrance to the 
mountains, of which they possessed themselves shortly afterwards. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A second English army lands at Lisbon, and forces Marshal Soult to 
evacuate Portugal, and fall back, with Marshal Ney, on Astorga and 
Salamanca — The Junta brings two new armies into the field, intended 
to co-operate with the English — At the same time the Junta adopts the 
system of guerilla warfare— The King at the head of the fourth army 
corps marches against General Venegas, who declines battle and re- 
tires to the Sierra-Morena— The guerillas advance to the gates of Ma- 
drid—The English succeed in joining the army of General Cuesta, and 
march against the Duke of Belluna— The King leaves Madrid to pro- 
ceed to the headquarters of the latter — His departure creates great 
alarm in the capital — Retreat of Cuesta and the English after the battle 
of Talavera — Defeat of Venegas at the battle of Almoneciad — The 
King returns to Madrid on August 15— Suppression of the Monasteries 
— Government Reforms — The King makes an excursion to San Ilde- 
fonso and to Segovia — Description of these places — Return of the King 
to Madrid — His efforts to improve the Governmental system are ren- 
dered vain by the enmity of the nation — The Emperor is displeased 
with the conduct of the war in Spain — A fresh army levied by the 
Junta and commanded by General Arizaga, appears in La Mancha, 
and marches on Madrid — It is dispersed near Ocafia by the King — 
General Kellerman defeats another Spanish army commanded by the 
Duke del Parque, at Alba de Tormes — The King resolves to undertake 
the conquest of Andalusia. 

In conformity with the treaty of alliance concluded in January 
1 809, between England and the Central Junta at Seville, in the 
name of Ferdinand VIL, the British Government despatched a 
second army to the Peninsula, under the command of Sir Arthur 
Wellesley, which reached Lisbon on the 2 2d of April. Before 
this, General Lord Beresford had, with the assistance of some Eng- 
lish officers, organized and put into the field a considerable body 
of Portuguese troops, while the Spanish Junta also prepared to re- 
commence the struggle. General Cuesta was gathering together 
on the frontiers of Estremadura and Andalusia an army partly 
composed of the remnants of the troops that had been defeated at 
Medelin. General Venegas, at the head of another force, was at 
the foot of the Sierra-Morena, ready to enter La Mancha. 

At the same time that these fresh troops took the field, the 
Supreme Junta issued a decree from Seville, in which, in a prac- 
tical spirit, it authorized a land raid on the French and set up that 



486 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

famous system of guerilla-warfare, which afterwards assumed such 
alarming proportions. By this decree, it was enjoined on all the 
inhabitants of the provinces occupied by the French, to fall upon 
the soldiery when few in number, to attack them, to seize their 
arms and accoutrements, and either to take them prisoners, or to 
put them to death. This barbarous course of action being con- 
formable both to the character and habits of the nation was adopt- 
ed without difficulty. It intercepted all our lines of communica- 
tion, and obliged us to provide an escort for everything we sent 
forward, and was the origin of the guerilla-bands, which, under 
daring leaders, caused us losses a hundredfold greater than those 
inflicted on us by the regular troops of Spain. 

The Spanish Generals had the audacity to send heralds to our 
advanced posts, requesting that these land-pirates should, when 
taken with arms in their hands, be treated as prisoners of war. 
This demand was rejected ; but when the number and the impor- 
tance of the guerillas had so greatly increased that reprisals were to 
be feared, the point was tacitly yielded. 

Since the embarkation of the English at Corunna in January, 
two army corps, the 2d, commanded by Marshal Soult, and the 
6th, commanded by Marshal Ney, had occupied Galicia. Another 
corps, the 5th, under Marshal Mortier, which had recently arrived 
in Spain, was at Valladolid, one division being at Santander. At 
the end of February, Marshal Soult left Corunna at the head of 
his corps, and marched towards the Portuguese frontier, leaving 
to Marshal Ney the final subjugation of Galicia, the principal 
places, such as Vigo-el-Ferrol, Santiago and others, having already 
fallen inta the hands of the French. He crossed the Minho at 
Orense, took possession of Chaves on the Tamega in the Portu- 
guese province of Tras-los-Montes, and arrived before the walls of 
Oporto on the 29th of March, without having encountered any 
serious obstacles. The garrison, although very strong, made but 
slight resistance, and the town surrendered almost without striking 
a blow. The Marshal took up his quarters there, and occupied 
the fortresses of Tuy on the right bank of the Minho, and of Viana 
on the Lima, so as to secure communication with the 6th corps ; 
but on the Lisbon side he scarcely advanced farther than the 
Vouga. 

During his residence at Oporto, which in wealth and in the im- 
portance of its trade is the second city in the Kingdom, the 
Marshal, if rumour may be believed, assumed the position of a 
sovereign rather than that of a general at the head of troops of 
which the command has been given to him by a superior ; and 
his behaviour gave rise to the supposition that he had entertained 
the idea of setting up an independent kingdom of his own in that 



THE ENGLISH ARMY. 48/ 

part of Portugal. * The correspondence that he kept up by means 
of secret agents in Lisbon, and the interior of the country, and the 
skill with which he attracted a certain number of partisans among 
the Portuguese, first originated and then confirmed those rumours 
which naturally found an echo in Paris. But it was impossible 
just then to dispense with Marshal Soult's presence in Spain, and 
it is probable that the need of himself and of his services saved him 
from disgrace or even from a still greater danger, f 

The English army under Sir Arthur Wellesley left Coi'mbra tow- 
ards the end of April and crossed the Vouga early in May. After 
driving back the French outposts on that river, the English 
attacked the French on the 7th of May before Oporto on the left 
bank of the Douro, and forced them to recross the river and to 
evacuate the town. At the same time General Beresford had ad- 
vanced with the Portuguese army to the Upper Douro to support 
the English towards the north, and by possessing himself of the 
fortress of Chaves, had cut off communications between the second 
army corps and Galicia. Marshal Soult's position now became 
extremely critical. He escaped from it by a daring measure. He 
destroyed all his artillery and heavy baggage, and entering on the 
almost impassable defiles of Salamonda, he succeeded on the 20th 
of May, with great difficulty and considerable loss, less in men 
than in material, in gaining Orense, and his communications with 
Marshal Ney at Vigo. The two army corps even when united 
were not, however, strong enough to hold their own in the prov- 
inces of the Asturias and Galicia, where the whole population 
under the lead of the guerilla chiefs, Marquerito and Ballesteros, 
had taken up arms against the French. The two Marshals retreat- 
ed, Ney to Astorga, and Soult as far as Salamanca. Such was the 
issue of the second expedition against Portugal — nearly as unfortu- 



* Since the elevation of Murat to the throne of Naples, more than one 
Marshal of France cherished hopes of similar exaltation. 

f The Moniteur of January 14, 1809, contains the following paragraph 
on the subject of the suspicions entertained against Marshal Soult : 

" Some injurious reports have been spread concerning the Duke of 
Dalmatia. We are authorized to state that these reports are malicious 
and unfounded. His Majesty continues to rely on the fidelity and at- 
tachment of the Duke of Dalmatia, and has given him a fresh proof of 
confidence by appointing him Major-General of his army in Spain." 

Had the Marshal succeeded in pushing onwards, and had he succeeded 
in driving the English from Portugal, it is hard to say to what point the 
ambitious designs attributed to him might have led this man, who united 
with a high military reputation the faculty of interesting his officers and 
men in his personal fortunes. The events of war, however, as will be 
seen, put an end to the ambitious projects, of which, rightly or wrongly, 
the Duke of Dalmatia was accused. 



488 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

nate as the first under General Junot, and a presage of the still 
more fatal one that was to follow. 

. While the Dukes of Dalmatia and Elchingen were thus relin- 
quishing our conquests in the west of the li^eninsula, and their re- 
treat was leaving the English free to advance by the most direct 
road from Portugal to Madrid, with no enemy to fight, the Span- 
ish armies under Cuesta and Venegas began to march towards the 
left bank of the Tagus, and to threaten the capital. The French 
troops that could be brought against them, and that were then oc- 
cupying La Mancha and the valley of the Tagus, consisted of the 
1st corps under Marshal Victor ; of the 4th under General Sebas- 
tiani, and of the Reserve, formed in great part of the Royal Guard 
and which was stationed at Madrid and in its environs. Marshal. 
Victor had about 30,000 men under his orders and General Sebas- 
tiani between 7000 and 8000 ; the Reserve might be reckoned at 
5000 or 6000 men ; in all 40,000 or 45,000. And although the 
Spanish forces might be computed at above 60,000 men, the supe- 
riority was not so great that we might not hope for success. The 
King left Madrid on the 2 2d of June and joined the 4th corps, 
which was occupying La Mancha, while the ist remained to watch 
Cuesta at Talavera de la Reyna. The King and General Sebastiani 
marched on Venegas ; but at their first move, the Spaniards re- 
treated rapidly to the Sierra-Morena, and the French could only 
pursue them as far as Santa-Cruz-de-Mudela, at the foot of that 
mountain-chain. Thus, there was no engagement ; the Spaniards 
waited for the advance of the English, and would risk nothing un- 
til they had joined them. 

The King returned to Madrid on the 13th of July, after a fruit- 
less campaign of three weeks. He found the capital much dis- 
turbed ; the hopes of his enemies had revived, and consternation 
reigned among his followers. Numerous bands of guerillas 
roamed through the country, often approaching the very gates of 
the city. General Franceschi de Lonne, one of the most distin- 
guished officers in the army, * and Antoine, a youthful nephew of 
the king, aide-de-camp to Marshal Soult, had been taken prison- 
ers by one of these bands. 

On the 2ist of July, an aide-de-camp from Marshal Victor 
brought news to Madrid that Sir Arthur Wellesley had effected a 
junction with General Cuesta at Oropesa, and that the two armies 
were advancing together on the ist corps. The King started im- 
mediately, and proceeded by way of Naval-Carnero to Casallegar, 

* In addition to his military talents, he was a clever sculptor and 
draughtsman. I shall have occasion, hereafter, to refer to him and his 
melancholy fate. 



MADRID. 489 



where were the head-quarters of the Duke of Belluna. His de- 
parture caused the greatest alarm to the French famihes in Madrid, 
and to the famihes of those Spaniards who had espoused his cause. 
The alarm of the latter was so great, that the utmost entreaties of 
General Belliard, Governor of Madrid, and of the French ambassa- 
dor, barely sufficed to prevent the ministers from leaving the city, 
and joining the King's head-quarters. 

Meanwhile, the fortifications of Buen-Retiro were being strength- 
ened ; but these very precautions instead of allaying the fears of 
the French, served only to increase them. Each day was passed 
in alarm, and there was great danger of a rising in the city. On 
July 26th especially, the most alarming rumours were abroad. It 
was reported that the King had been defeated, that he had been 
obliged to surrender, and that the English would enter Madrid 
during the day. An immense crowd assembled near the palace, 
and in the direction of the Segovia and Toledo Bridges to see them 
arrive. There was no disturbance, but the delight of the inhabi- 
tants was noisily expressed, and universal gaiety prevailed. This 
was the state of things when a courier, arriving at 3 a.m. on 
the 27th, brought accounts of a partial victory gained over the 
enemy on the previous day at the Guadarrama Pass, and informed 
us that the King had effected a junction with the ist and 4th army 
corps. This news partly quelled the disturbance of the day before, 
and the danger of our position seemed to be averted. But the lull 
was of brief duration. On the evening of the 29th General Belliard 
warned me that there was not a moment to lose before removing 
my family to Buen-Retiro. We had to set about a hurried move, 
put up our most valuable belongings, and collect together all that 
could be saved. When these unpleasant tasks were accomplished, 
and my family were in safety, at least for a time, I returned 
to Madrid where I passed a very restless night. 

The following were the grounds of alarm. General Belliard 
was acquainted with the particulars of the battle of the preceding 
day at Talavera, and he knew it had not been decisive. The 
enemy occupied a formidable position, and our troops, notwith- 
standing their impetuosity, had not been able to dislodge them. 
The English had fought with the utmost bravery, the loss on both 
sides had been heavy, and the armies had remained in their re- 
spective positions. 

Meanwhile, the Spanish corps under Venegas, having crossed the 
Tagus at Aranjuez, was advancing upon us, and might be at Ma- 
drid on the next day. We had no troops with which to oppose it, 
for General Sebastiani's corps, which had been protecting the capi- 
tal, had, four days before, joined Marshal Victor's to fight at Tal- 
avera. In the tumult produced by this alarming news, Buen-Re- 



490 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tiro was regarded as a place of safety, if not from the enemy, at 
least from the fury of the populace, and those who had incurred or 
feared they had incurred that fury took refuge there in great num- 
bers. It is difficult to describe the state of Madrid on the 30th of 
July. 

From early dawn, a long file of carts, wagons, men, women, 
and children, on foot and on horseback, followed by porters carry- 
ing bundles, boxes, and beds, crowded the road to Buen-Retiro, 
and this curious procession lasted for several hours without inter- 
mission. In a short time, the limited space which served as a 
shelter for this crowd of people was full. Men, women and chil- 
dren, huddled together on all sides, vehicles and horses in hideous 
confusion, presented a terrible spectacle. I saw at once that the 
means of defence provided for our families were utterly insuffi- 
cient. Buen-Retiro was, in itself, incapable of resistance, the only 
portion that was fortified at all was a building formerly reserved 
for the manufacture of porcelain, and called La China, but this 
could contain only a few persons. The remainder of Buen-Retiro 
was as defenceless as any other part of the town. I should have 
Hked to select some other place of refuge for my family, or at least 
to have removed them to La China ; but the least movement made 
by me would have alarmed the other refugees ; they would all 
have wanted to follow me, and wild confusion would have ensued. 
I therefore had to resign myself to waiting. 

The day passed in continual alarm. The gloomiest and at the 
same time the most contradictory accounts were received in rapid 
succession. Occasionally more favourable news was made known, 
and received with the avidity that always accompanies terror. Tow- 
ards evening, however, more reassuring accounts reached us from 
head-quarters, and a letter written to me by my brother at ten 
o'clock on the preceding evening, although not completely reas- 
suring, convinced me that our situation was not hopeless. The 
enemy, according to him, had not been defeated on the 28th (bat- 
tle of Talavera), but had suffered severely, and had remained in 
their entrenchments. The 2d and 3d corps (Marshal Soult and 
Marshal Mortier's) were expected every hour. Their total strength 
amounted to 30,000 men, and having left Salamanca on the 25th 
of July, they were now believed to be at Placencia on the rear of 
the English army. This would necessarily oblige the English to 
retire, so as to escape from being surrounded, and thus General 
Sebastiani's corps might be detached from that of Marshal Victor, 
and could march with the Reserve, led by the King, on Toledo 
and Aranjuez.' These united forces, which were sufficient to arrest 
the march of Venegas, would protect Madrid, and rescue the capital 
from the danger to which it had been exposed for the last three daj's. 



A LULL. 491 

When these things became known, excessive alarm was suddenly 
succeeded by excessive confidence, and although there could as yet 
be no certainty as to the results of these movements, everyone was 
in the evening as eager to leave Buen-Retiro as they had been to 
come there in the morning. Positive orders from General Belliard 
were necessary to check this exodus during the night. On the 
following day, 31st of July, firing was heard in the direction of 
Toledo ; a Spanish force was attacking that city on the left bank of 
the Tagus, but Madrid remained undisturbed. A large number 
of wounded soldiers, from the engagement of the 28th, arrived 
during the day. Lastly, on the ist of August, the steps taken to 
protect the capital having obliged Venegas to renounce his inten- 
tion of marching on Madrid, all those who had taken refuge at 
Buen-Retiro returned to the city. A momentary lull succeeded 
to a state of extreme disturbance, and for two days profound quiet 
reigned at Madrid. But, as the English had not relinquished their 
positions near Talavera, and Marshal Soult had not made his ap- 
pearance on the Tagus, and the campaign was far from being de- 
cided, the King thought it well to prevent the repetition of scenes 
such as had just taken place in Madrid, by removing the families 
of all the French and Spanish in his service from that city, and 
sending them to San Ildefonso. I received orders to that effect 
in the evening of the 3d of August, and the succeeding day was 
employed in preparation for this unexpected removal, which gave 
rise to fresh alarm and agitation. The carriages intended for the 
journey to San Ildefonso drew up in the evening, and on the 5th, 
at daybreak, the departure took place. Among the travellers were 
the French Ambassador, the Danish and Russian Envoys, the 
Ministers, the Councillors of State, the officers of the King's 
Household, and in fact, everyone in Madrid who was connected 
with Government. In the meantime, the news from the army had 
become more and more favourable. Marshal Soult had effected his 
manoeuvre, and the English had begun to retire. Marshal Victor 
had immediately marched in pursuit, in order to drive them 
against Soult, so as either to force them to fight under very disad- 
vantageous circumstances, or to retreat on the left bank of the 
Tagus. The King, with the 4th corps and the Reserve, found 
himself free to fall upon Venegas and to force him to loose his 
hold on the country between Aranjuez and Toledo. Thus all 
cause of alarm about Madrid seemed to be entirely removed, and 
the retreat to San Ildefonso became, at least for the time, an un- 
necessary measure. General Belliard, who shared my views on 
this point, did not, however, venture to defer the execution of the 
King's orders. 

On the same day that the departure to San Ildefonso took place, 



492 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

I left Madrid to join the King at head-quarters, which had been 
established on the 5th of August at Val de Moro, half-way be- 
tween Madrid and Aranjuez. I arrived there in the evening, and 
found the army in a tolerably favourable position. Venegas had 
retreated from the right bank of the Tagus, but was still defending 
Aranjuez. The King had displayed great personal courage and 
coolness during the campaign. As for the military operations, I 
was not in a position to judge of them ; but it was evident that 
the King, with an army of forty or forty-two thousand men, had 
withstood more than a hundred thousand in a very restricted 
space; that the English had sustained heavy losses, and that, at 
the moment of my arrival, our affairs were going pretty well. 

I remained five days at head-quarters, and accompanied the King 
to Vargas and thence to Toledo, where he intended to cross the 
Tagus, and to attack Venegas on the left bank of that river. While 
this movement was in progress, the King received a courier from 
Marshals Soult, Mortier, and Victor at Vargas on the 8th of 
August. The three army corps had joined their forces on the 6th, 
and the enemy was retiring in disorder over the Arzobispo bridge to 
the left bank of the Tagus, not having had time to gain the 
Almarez bridge. More than four thousand wounded were left be- 
hind at Talavera, whom Sir Arthur Wellesley recommended, by a 
letter to Marshal Victor, to the generosity of the French. The 
campaign was thus pretty well ended on the Talavera side, and 
the Spanish corps commanded by Cuesta, which had been present 
rather as spectators than actors at the battle of Talavera, having 
likewise recrossed the Tagus, there was nothing further to interfere 
with the march of the 4th corps, which crossed the river without 
opposition at Toledo on the 9th of August. The King having 
entered that town with the reserve on the same day, all the troops 
intended for the attack on Venegas began their march. They 
joined battle with him on the nth at Almonacid, and gained a 
signal victory. All the enemy's positions were forced, and the 
Spanish army, being several times charged by cavalry during its 
retreat, was completely routed. Two thousand killed, an equal 
number of prisoners, and the whole of the Spanish artillery, were 
the trophies of the day, on which Venegas' Corps was almost en- 
tirely destroyed, and the remnant took refuge in the Sierra-Morena. 
This short campaign could riot have ended more gloriously. 

I had left the King at Vargas. He had commanded me to 
return to Madrid, and to recall thither the families that had been 
sent to San Ildefonso. I gladly executed this commission, and on 
the 13 th of August the refugees re-entered the capital, where after 
so many alarms, now happily removed, all was restored to its ac- 
customed order. 



REJOICINGS. 493 



The King returned to Madrid on the 15th of August, and re- 
paired to the charch of San Isidoro, where a TeDeum was sung. It 
was the fete day of the Emperor ; there were illuminations and 
fire-works. A dinner to two hundred guests, at which I did the 
honours by command, was given in the building called the Armeria 
to the civil and military authorities. At the close of the repast, 
the King appeared in the Hall, and was received with acclamations 
by the guests. In the evening, he went to the theatre. But the 
inhabitants of the town merely looked on at these rejoicings and 
took no part in them. Their gloom contrasted with the liveliness 
and activity of the French. However, we had got breathing time, 
and the favourable issue of recent military events promised us a 
few months of repose. 

The French Ambassador and the Spanish Ministers gave dinners ; 
and every effort was made to efface the remembrance of the terror 
caused by the movements of the English army. Attempts were 
even made to persuade the public that no cause for that terror had 
ever existed, and the retreat of the French and Spanish families to 
San Ildefonso was represented in the newspapers as merely the usual 
summer excursion made by the Court to that royal residence. 
This miserable subterfuge, invented by vanity, deceived none. 

The Government, feeling more at ease, resumed its activity. In 
a sitting of the Council of State which took place on the i8th of 
August, several important decrees were discussed and adopted. 
The gist of them was as follows : 

' ' All the religious houses for men were suppressed. The monks 
were ordered to return to their places of birth ; they were forbidden 
to wear the religious habit. 

" The rank of Grandee of Spain, and all Castilian titles, not 
confirmed by the King, were abolished. 

' ' The Councils of War, of Marine, of Orders, and other ancient 
forms of administration, under whatsoever name they might be 
designated, were suppressed, as were also all the posts not con- 
firmed anew by the King. 

' ' Confiscation of property belonging to Spanish absentees, or to 
Spaniards serving in the army of the Junta, was decreed ; a sum 
of twenty million reals, taken from the produce of the monastic 
property, was placed at the disposal of the Minister of War and the 
Minister of the Interior, to be distributed as indemnity to such 
persons as had suffered loss by the war, or in payment of the sala- 
ries of officials, for which the State could not otherwise have pro- 
vided, on account of the condition of the Public Treasury. 

These arrangements, and several others tending to the ameliora- 
tion of the state of the finances, having been made, and promising 
a greater degree of success than they eventually obtained^ the King 



494 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

took advantage of a few days of leisure to visit San Ildefonso and^ 
Segovia. I accompanied him on this excursion. 

We left Madrid on the 8th of September. The road by which 
we travelled crosses the Manzanares by the Ban Fernando Bridge, 
and follows the Escurial Road in a north-westerly direction so far 
as the village of Las Rosas. There it divides, the road to the left 
leading to the Escurial and to the village of Guadarrama ; and that 
to the right, which we followed, taking us to Nava-Cerrada. * It 
traverses a barren plain, strewn with blocks of granite from which 
stone has been and is still daily quarried for the buildings of Madrid. 
After journeying for five hours, we began the ascent of one of the 
slopes of the Guadarrama range, to reach the puerto of Nava- 
Cerrada where we were to cross the chain. The road we followed 
is well planned and well constructed. The mountain is wooded, 
and its lower slopes are covered with shrubs, among which I re- 
marked the Cistus ladani/erus, which diffuses its aromatic scent very 
widely, and whose large red or white flowers were everywhere to be 
seen. From the Venia de Circedilla, f the ascent to the Puerto is 
more rapid. This pass is one of the highest in Europe, and almost 
equals in that respect the passes of Mont Cenis, St. Gothard and 
the Simplon. But as, in order to reach it, a traveller starts gen- 
erally speaking, from Madrid, a spot of great altitude, and as the 
length of the way is very great from Madrid to the highest point of 
the puerto, its elevation is less perceptible. On the summits of the 
Guadarrama chain, to the south, there was no snow, but when we 
reached the puerto, we could perceive some traces still lingering, not- 
withstanding the advanced season of the year. From this we may 
conclude- that in some parts of the range the snows are perpetual. 

After the puerto of Nava-Cerrada has been crossed, there is a very 
steep descent through a magnificent forest of pine-trees. Several 
streams of pure water run through this forest, and their confluence 
gives birth to the Eresma, a beautiful river which has made a bed 
for itself among the granite rocks, and, after watering a great part 
of the province of Segovia, runs into the Douro. Two or three 
hours' journey on this delightful road brought us to San Ildefonso. 
The palace, one of the most elevated buildings in Europe, was built 
by Philip V. The architecture is second-rate ; the style is that which 
was fashionable in France under Louis XIV. , and which may be 
seen at Versailles and the Trianon. 

* " The enclosed plain." Nava is an Arabic word, which, with many 
others, has been retained in the Spanish language ; but it is generally ap- 
plied to high plains only, surrounded by mountains, and forming cols or 
puei'tos. 

f Venta. A sort of inn where travellers find shelter, and may cat and 
sleep, if they have brought provisions and bedding with them. 



SAN ILDEFONSO. 495 



The gardens extending to the south and west of San Ildefonso 
are large, well designed, and adorned with magnificent fountains in 
marble, bronze and lead ; they are remarkable for their water- works. 
On the whole, the situation of this Royal residence, which also 
bears the name of la Granja, is picturesque and beautiful. The 
high mountains by which it is surrounded on all sides impart 
an appearance of wildness to it, but on the ot^er hand they provide 
shade, water and promenades, which, under a burning sky and 
close to the gloomy barrenness of the Castilian plains, are of ines- 
timable value. I wandered through these gardens with the King, 
and we climbed the mountains to one of the peaks, where the snow 
was still lying. This excursion, which was rendered delightful by 
the variety of its views and the freshness of the verdure, occupied 
nearly six hours. 

We stayed three days at San Ildefonso, enjoying a delicious re- 
pose that we had not known for many a long day, and started on 
the 1 2th of September to return to Madrid by way of Segovia. 

Segovia is a very ancient town situated on the Eresma. It was 
long famous for its manufactures of cloth and other woollen fabrics, 
and was in old times populous and commercial. But when I was 
there in 1809, it retained no trace of its former splendour, and 
offered nothing worthy of a traveller's attention except its an- 
tiquities, especially the fine aqueduct built by the Romans in the 
reign of Trajan. 

This aqueduct spans the valley in which part of the town is 
situated. It unites the hills on the opposite sides, and brings the 
waters of the Eresma to the upper part of Segovia. Its height, 
measured from the lowest part of the valley, is from ninety to 
ninety-five feet. It consists of two rows of semicircular arches, 
one resting on the other. The arches and the pillars supporting 
them are composed of layers of the gray granite of the country, 
simply placed on each other without cement. The purity of the 
design of this aqueduct is admirable, and the lightness of the build- 
ing is as marvellous as its solidity. 

It is difficult, in fact, to understand, how an edifice so fragile in 
appearance can have resisted the wear and tear of more than seven- 
teen centuries. The most striking view of the aqueduct is obtained 
from the valley. The pillars, supporting the first row of arches, 
are sixty feet in height, and seen from below, the arches seem 
almost to be suspended in mid-air. 

In short, this aqueduct is one of the finest remains of antiquity, 
and there are few that can be compared with it either in Italy or 
Greece. 

As we only stayed a few hours in Segovia, I had not time to visit 



4g6 MEiMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Alcazar or the cathedral, * but I shall have occasion to speak of 
them hereafter. 

We left Segovia for Rio-Frio, a hunting-box appertaining to San 
Ildefonso. On his arrival the King found a Spanish regiment, 
which had been raised recently, drawn up in battle array on the 
esplanade of the Castle. This regiment was recruited from pris- 
oners, or deserters fr,om the armies of the Junta, and former ser- 
vants of Ferdinand VII., whom the officers of the regiment had 
hired or kidnapped. M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, aide-de-camp to 
the King, was in command. We saw him at the head of his corps, 
in a brown uniform with yellow facings, and the red cockade. He 
put his regiment through its drill, giving the word of command in 
Spanish, a piece of courtier's flattery which was very pleasing to 
the King. He expressed his satisfaction to the colonel, and in- 
vited him and his principal officers to breakfast. After the break- 
fast, we resumed our journey to Madrid, and reached the capital 
on the evening of the 12 th of September. 

There now occurred in Spain a suspension of military opera- 
tions. After the campaign of Talavera the English had retreated 
to the frontiers of Portugal, and the Spaniards, not having yet re- 
couped their losses at Almonacid did not venture to show on this 
side of the Sierra- Morena. W^hile the truce lasted, the King took 
an active part in the Government of the interior. I have already 
mentioned the measures taken by him before his departure for San 
Ildefonso. Many others were also discussed and adopted on his 
return. A new order of chivalry was instituted, to take the place 
of the former ones, which, with the exception of that of the Golden 
Fleece, f had all been suppressed by a previous decree. A system 
of public education was established on the basis of that which had 
been adopted in France. The right of sanctuary, which still ex- 
isted in Spain, was abolished. A number of other administrative 
measures, generally speaking in harmony with the ideas which then 
prevailed in Europe, succeeded to these, but they invariably failed 
of their intended effect. Those that were of a severe character 
aroused resentment, and indulgence was met with ingratitude. 
For example, the abolition of the religious orders was desired by 
every right-thinking man in Spain ; the influence of the monks 
was greatly diminished even among the lower classes ; then sup- 
pression was an indisputable benefit ; yet that measure was severely 

* ^/ Cazar, an Arab word, signifying the palace, the fortress. This 
name was generally given to the residences of the Moorish kings in 
Spain, and after their expulsion it was retained in Southern Spain. 

f When the Emperor heard that the King had retained the Order of 
the Golden Fleece, he instituted that of the Three Golden Fleeces^ which, 
however, was never distributed. 



THE TASK OF SISYPHUS. 497 

censured, and the monks were pitied because the hand that struck 
at them was abhorred. Public opinion was inexorable ; it rejected 
everything coming from us, even benefits. 

Thus the King, his Ministers and his Councillors spent them- 
selves in fruitless labours. Nothing answered their expectations, 
and the worst danger to the Government, the void in the Public 
Treasury, showed no sign of diminution. On the contrary, the 
financial distress increased every day, and the unpleasant means to 
which we were forced to have recourse, in order to supply the never- 
ceasing wants of the army, completely alienated the people from us. 

We were not much more fortunate in Paris. The Emperor, 
conqueror of Austria, who was then concluding a peace soon to 
be cemented by an alliance with a grand-daughter of Maria 
Theresa, considered that the military operations in Spain did not 
correspond with the greatness of his designs. He was far from 
sharing the satisfaction of Madrid. He detested blunders in the 
campaign, and disapproved of the haste with which the enemy had 
been attacked at Talavera, and of the tactics of the engagement. 
His displeasure was perceptible even in the reports he caused to be 
published, and in the notes he appended to them, though he did 
not hesitate to represent the general result of the campaign as 
favourable to the French arms, and full of confidence on this 
account, he renewed his pledge that he would hoist his eagles on 
the towers of Lisbon.* 

But his rebukes and his criticisms were not addressed directly 
to his brother. As I have already stated, he had ceased to write 
to King Joseph. They were expressed in the correspondence be- 
tween his Ministers and the Generals of the army. Neither 
honour nor favour was granted to the troops who had fought at 
Talavera and at Almonacid. Marshal Jourdan sent in his resig- 
nation. It was accepted, and Marshal Soult succeeded him as 
Major-General to the King..| At about this time it was an- 
nounced that the Emperor, being free from anxiety in Germany, 
was returning to Spain. At the end of October the King sent 
several officers of his household to meet him, J; and new political 
arrangements were spoken of by which the Emperor would wear 
the Spanish crown, and would send his brother to Milan. But if 
the project of once more changing the destiny of Spain had really 
occurred to the Emperor at this time, other cares diverted him 
from it, and subsequently time failed for carrying it into execution. 

* See the Moniteur oi September 28, 1809, and February 11, 1810. 

f He arrived at Madrid on November 5. 

X General Strolz, First Equerry, the Marquis de Casapalacio, one of 
his aides-de-camp, and the Marquis de Montehermoso, First Chamber- 
lain. 



498 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The peace with Austria brought no change to our position in 
Spain. We were left to our own resources, and it was not long 
before we were obliged to make use of theiri all. 

The harmony and mutual understanding which alone could 
ensure success to the combined armies of our adversaries, had no 
existence between the English and the Spaniards, and the tardiness 
of Sir Arthur Wellesley's movements after the expulsion of the 
French from Portugal, is explained in great part, at least, by the 
want of concord between the military leaders of the two nations. 
After the battle of Talavera, and the defeat of Venegas at 
Almonacid, there was ,an increase of distrust, and the ill-humour 
that followed on ill-success made the intercourse between them 
still more strained and difficult. From that time the English 
ceased to make common cause with the Spaniards, and applied 
themselves solely to preserving their line of communication with 
Portugal, where their ships and their supplies were. During the 
three months which followed the battle of Talavera, Lord Wel- 
lington * took no part in the operations of the Spaniards, and 
kept his army in cantonments between Merida and Badajoz, until 
the French once more began to threaten Portugal. This conduct 
was in conformity with the principles acted on during the whole 
war in Spain by the English Government, for it would be an error 
to attribute its efforts in the Spanish cause to that feeling of gen- 
erosity which it is natural to suppose would impel a nation to go 
to the assistance of another when unjusdy attacked. The real 
aim of the English in supporting the Spaniards was to enfeeble 
France, and the real spoils of victory, if they obtained it, was the 
subjugation of Portugal. The liberty, the independence, the 
prosperity of Spain, the restoration of Ferdinand VIL, were the 
least of their motives, or, to speak more correctly, were only the 
pretext for their enterprise. W^e must therefore always refer the 
movements of the English to this two-fold end ; that of doing as 
much harm as possible to the French, and that of becoming mas- 
ters of Portugal. Starting from these premises, everything is easily 
explained : the delay of the English general in his march towards 
the Tagus, the indifference he displayed to the fate of the Spanish 
army after the battle of Talavera, his haste to approach Portugal, 

* On Auf^ust i6, 1809, the British Government had created Sir Arthur 
Wellesley, Baron Wellesley of Douro, and Viscount Wellington of Tal- 
avera. 

The titles successively conferred on him by the Government in recog- 
nition of his services, are as follows : 

February 18, 1812, Earl of Wellington. 

August 18, 1812, Marquis of Wellington. - 

And, finally. May 3, 1815, Marquis of Douro and Duke of Wellington. 



THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE. 499 

md his immobility during the remainder of the campaign, and 
luring the conquest of Andalusia, which took place in che follow- 
ing year. 

The Spaniards, however, though left in some sort to themselves, 
ippeared in no wise alarmed at their isolation. Their confidence 
jeemed rather to gather strength. They believed that their armies, 
vhen entirely unfettered, would accomplish alone what they had 
'ailed to achieve in conjunction with the English. 

The Junta of Seville had raised a new army as if by magic. 
Fifty thousand men, well equipped, and well armed, with a strong 
orce of artillery, had assembled at the foot of the Sierra-Morena, 
mder General Arizaga, who had succeeded Venegas. In the be- 
Ifinning of November, this force made its appearance on this side 
)f the mountains, and, advancing across the plains of La Mancha, 
vhere it met with no opposition, came to the banks of the Tagus, 
narching on Madrid. The opportunity had been well chosen for 
his movement, to which the dispersion of our forces was favour- 
ible. * The Second Corps, which since Marshal Soult' s appoint- 
nent as Major-General had been under the command of General 
^egnier, was occupying that portion of Estremadura lying between 
he Tagus and Truxillo. The First Corps, under Marshal Victor, 
lad been drawn out on our left as far as Cuen9a, and an order to 
eturn to the Tagus, of which M. de Clermont-Tonnerre was 
)earer, was delivered too late to be executed in time. These two 
:orps were the most numerous. The Fourth and Fifth, occupying 
rdedo, Aranjuez, and the environs of Madrid, and forming, 
ogether with the Royal Guard, a total of twenty to twenty-four 
housand men, marched against the enemy, who were already hold- 
ng the bridges on the Tagus and on the Jarama. The King and 
vlarshal Soult left Madrid on November i8th, and passed the night 
,t Aranjuez, which the enemy had abandoned on our approach, to 
ake up a stronger position behind Ocana at the entrance of the 
)lain of La Mancha. Their front was covered by a deep ravine, 
vhich encircles the town for three quarters of its circumference. 

Arizaga' s army was attacked on the 1 9th by the French, who 
;ained a most complete victory ; 20,000 prisoners, fifty guns, and 
hirty flags, fell into the hands of the victors. I was informed of 
his the next day, by a courier who brought me the following note : 

" Monsieur le Comte de Melito : The Junta's army is com- 
)letely destroyed. Your son-in-law f distinguished himself. I 

* The Spaniards were so certain of success, that they had brought lo 
leville with them a company of actors, who had prepared a play to cele- 
>rate the entry of their army into Madrid. 

f Colonel Jamin, commanding a regiment of light cava.ry in the guards. 
V. charge made by his troop had contributed to the defeat of the enemy. 



500 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

am very well. Your affectionate Joseph. Dos Barrios, * Novem- 
ber 19th, 1809." 

The prisoners taken on that day were sent to Madrid, and 
quartered at the Buen-Retiro, where they arrived in succession. 
The first column, consisting of more than 16,000 meii, entered 
the town on the 2 2d of November. A large number of the in- 
habitants had gone beyond the gates to meet it, so as to convince 
themselves of its existence, for the people of Madrid still doubted 
the reality of the defeat. The spectacle seemed to make some 
impression, and the kindness shown by the King towards the pris- 
oners, who were treated with the utmost humanity, awakened some 
gratitude just at first' But the national hatred and enmity towards 
the French soon got the upper hand, and neither our victory nor 
the moderation with which we used it could gain for us any 
popularity. 

The fortune of war, meanwhile, continued favourable to us. At 
Alba de Tormes, General Kellerman gained a decisive advantage 
over the troops of the Duke del Parque, who had advanced from 
Ciudad-Rodrigo towards Salamanca, where he had crossed the river 
in order to reach Valladolid, and to cut off the communications in 
that direction between Madrid and France. 

This force was completely defeated on the 28th of November, 
and was wholly scattered. In consequence of that success, the 
French entered Salamanca. From thence they began to threaten 
the frontiers of Portugal, whither, after the loss of the battle of 
Ocana, the English had withdrawn in order to protect Lisbon, 
leaving the Spaniards to their own resources. 

Thu§, on the whole, this troubled year ended more auspiciously 
than it had commenced. The recent military operations had come 
to a successful end, and the tranquillity of Madrid was ensured, at 
least for a time. Yet our troubles were far from being over. 
Public feeling was still against us, and the blood that had been so 
profusely shed during the year had effected no change in our fa- 
vour. We had conquered, but we had not convinced. After the 
disaster at Ocaiia, the Seville Junta still spoke in the same tone as 
before the defeat of the Spanish army. Thus we had to expect 
the continuance of a struggle, which time, and events, even those 
favourable to us, did but intensify. 

As to our relations with France, the same uncertainty still pre- 
vailed about the intentions of the Emperor. His obstinate silence 
on the King's course of action, and on the recent successes, por- 
tended real or pretended displeasure, which he held in reserve, so 
that he might adopt the line most conducive to his own interest. 

* A village of la Mancha, two leagues south of Ocana. 



ALTERNATIVES. 50I 



Meanwhile, it became necessary, in spite of the Emperor's 
>ilence, and in the absence of all direction from him in the con- 
iuct of the war, to adopt a plan of campaign. There was no 
onger an enemy between the Douro and the Sierra- Morena. The 
wo Castilles, La Mancha, and Estremadura, with the exception of 
he stronghold of Badajoz, were occupied by the French. A for- 
tnidabie expedition was in preparation against the English in Por- 
ugal. 
A considerable army-corps was advancing on Valencia from 
'atalonia and Arragon, while troops, whose spirits had been raised 
3y recent victory, were assembled on the Tagus. Was it desirable 
to leave these forces in inaction until the result of the expedition 
igainst Portugal and that of General Sechet's march on Valencia 
should be known ? or, would it not be well to make use of the 
enthusiasm of the troops in order to attempt the conquest of 
Andalusia ? Such was the question that called for a solution in 
Madrid, since the Emperor would not decide it in Paris. The 
first alternative was the more prudent, the more in conformity 
with the true rules of warfare, which ordain that the centre body 
of an army shall not advance while the wings that should cover it 
remain behind. This was the counsel given by a few persons, 
who endeavoured to press it on the King. The other was more 
dashing : supposing it to be successful it offered an opportunity 
for glory, and if the Junta could be dispersed, and possession of 
Cadiz obtained, it might complete the conquest of Spain, and end 
the war by a single blow. The latter alternative, which was flat- 
tering to ambitious hopes, had, therefore, more numerous sup- 
porters than the former, and the King's inclinations evidently leant 
to that side. It prevailed, and the expedition to Andalusia was re- 
solved on, at the end of December 1809, and w^as begun in the 
early part of January 18 10. Marshal Soult, who, as I have every 
reason to believe, was also inclined in the same direction, and on 
whom, in his capacity of Major-General, the carrying out of the 
expedition would devolve, declined to undertake it without a 
formal written order from the King, which would exonerate the 
Marshal in the case of failure. The King consented to give him 
this, and wrote to the Emperor, explaining his motives for the ex- 
pedition. Marshal Soult also wrote, but to their letters, or at any 
rate to that of the King, no reply was made. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Departure of the King for the Andalusian Expedition — Having passed! 
through Toledo, Madridejos, etc., he arrives at Almagro, where he 
joins Marshal Victor with the First Corps and where military opera- ' 
tions are commenced — The army, the centre formed by the Fifth Corps 
and the Reserve, and the right and left wings by the First and the 
Fourth Corps, enters the passes of the Sierra-Morena, and takes pos- 
session of them without great opposition — It advances by way of La i 
Carolina, Baylen, and Andujar, and occupies Cordova, where the ■ 
King is well received by the inhabitants — Description of the principal 1 
buildings of Cordova — The colonies of Andalusia — On reaching Car- • 
mona, the King, instead of marching directly on Cadiz to surprise the: 
Junta there, resolves to pass through Seville — He is warmly received! 
by the inhabitants of that city, the capital of Andalusia — This gives f 
him confidence, and he thanks the army in an emphatic order of the | 
day — Seville, its public buildings and its environs — The summons sent 
to Cadiz by the Duke of Belluna having produced no effect, the King 
leaves Seville, and proceeds by way of Utrera and Xerez to Puerto- 
Santa-Maria — Attempts to enter into negotiation with the Junta of Ca- 
diz are repulsed, and the necessity of a siege in form is recognized — 
The King, after visiting the town of San Lucar, returns to Xerez, and 
thence takes the road for Ronda and Malaga — Enthusiasm excited 
among the people by Joseph's entry into the latter town — Antequera i 
and ks antiquities — Cueva de Minga — The King's entry into Granada 
— Description of that city, and its buildings — Jaen and its ancient Ca- 
thedral—Return of the King to Andujar, and end of the Andalusian 
expedition. 

The Central Junta at Seville, which by its presumption and im- 
providence had sacrificed the most valuable resources of unhappy j 
Spain at Ocana, and which was the spectator and in great part the 
author of the disasters to her army, was beginning to tremble. 
Before the battle of Ocana, when still full of confidence, the Junta 
had endeavoured to counterbalance, by a manifesto addressed to 
the nation, the impression that would be produced in Spain by the 
conclusion of peace between Austria and France. 

"Our enemies," so runs the proclamation,* ** in announcing 
the conclusion of peace in Germany, already threaten us with the 
powerful reinforcements that are advancing to complete our ruin. 

* This is dated November 21 ; but when publishing it, the Junta did 
not yet know of the defeat of Arizaga, which took place on the 19th. 



BURNING WORDS. 503 



Puffed up by the favourable issue to their policy in the North, they 
insolently exhort us to submit ourselves to the clemency of the 
Conqueror, and to bow our heads beneath his yoke. 

' ' No, vile slaves of Bonaparte ! placed as we are between igno- 
miny and death, what choice would you have us make except that 
of defending ourselves to the last extremity ? Continue to plun- 
der, to rob, to massacre, to destroy, as you have been doing for 
the last twenty months ; increase the enmity towards you, the 
thirst for revenge which we shall always feel ; never will we fall at 
the feet of the crowned slave whom Bonaparte has sent us for a 
King, 

" That Spain should be free, is the desire of the whole nation. 
Let Spain be free, or let her become an immense desert, a vast 
grave-yard, where the heaped-up bones of Frenchmen and of 
Spaniards shall proclaim to future ages our glory and their shame. 
But so dreadful a fate cannot be reserved for Spain ; sooner or 
later victory must be the reward of courage and constancy. 

' ' Spaniards ! the Junta does not disguise from you the dangers 
that threaten your country ; it proclaims them to you, confident 
that you will prove yourselves worthy of that holy cause which is 
ours. That sword which has been drawn from its scabbard by the 
eternal hatred we have sworn to an execrable tyrant, shall no more 
be sheathed. Never again shall the standard of independence and 
liberty be furled. Hasten to enroll yourselves beneath its colours, 
all ye who cannot endure an infamous yoke, who cannot make a 
league with iniquity, and we shall triumph in the end over all the 
artifices and all the power of an inhuman despot !" 

Such language was too much in accordance with the feeling of 
the nation not to be well received. The news of the defeat at 
Ocaiia, however, now beginning to become known, lessened the 
effect of the proclamation. The Government-Junta, after vain 
efforts to disguise the disaster, was, at length, obliged to speak 
out. In a further proclamation, dated the 20th of December, it 
admitted the whole extent of the defeat, and stated to the nation 
the measures it proposed taking to escape the impending dangers. 
All the silver vessels of the churches with the exception of those 
that were indispensable for daily worship, were to be taken to the 
Seville Mint, a loan of six millions of piastres was to be opened in 
Spain, and one of forty millions in America. A hundred thou- 
sand men were to be raised to recruit the forces ; a hundred thou- 
sand pikes or daggers were to be manufactured and distributed in 
the country parts ; and engineers were to be despatched to the 
Sierra-Morena, to reconnoitre and fortify the mountain passes. 
These measures all indicated the gravity of the situation, and the 
alarm of the Government on the one hand, and on the other hand 



504 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the exhausted state of the means of resistance in Spain. In fact, 
the Junta had made so poor a use of its authority, that now, when 
the fairest provinces of the kingdom were in danger of invasion, 
Spain no longer possessed an army, and had only the shadow of a 
government, while she was deserted by her English allies. 

The French therefore had no serious obstacle to encounter in 
their expedition to Andalusia. They had only to decide whether 
the present was a fitting opportunity for the campaign, since the 
English army, quite intact, was occupying Portugal, and the 
provinces of Arragon and Valencia were not yet subdued. This 
question, as I have said in the last chapter, had been, in defiance 
of all the rules of strategy, decided in the affirmative. 

The French Army destined for the expedition to Andalusia, 
consisted of the united ist, 4th, and 5th Corps,* and numbered, 
including the Reserve and the Royal Guard, about 60,000 men. 

The King, whom I accompanied on this expedition, left Ma- 
drid on the 8th of January, 18 10, at seven in the morning, and 
passed the night at Toledo, having taken the high road through 
Getafa, Illescas, Cabaiias and Ollas. Early the next morning, the 
9th, we resumed our journey towards Madridejos ; and passed a 
fatiguing day in travelling nearly twelve Spanish leagues. After 
leaving Toledo, the Tagus is spanned by a very narrow but well- 
built bridge. After crossing this bridge, there is a steep ascent, 
with an admirable view of the town, which is situated on the right 
bank of the river, on several picturesquely grouped hills, the high- 
est crowned by the Alcazar. Before the use of cannon Toledo 
was a strong place, at the present time, overlooked as it is by the 
neighbouring heights, although the town is an important point, it 
has no longer any means of defence. At a short distance from 
Toledo we passed by Almonacid and the spot where, on August 
the loth of the preceding year, the King had gained an impor- 
tant victory. I was at his side as we rode over the field of battle, 
and he pointed out to me the enemy's positions, and recalled the 
principal circumstances of the engagement. We continued our 
route across La Mancha, and on the loth of January we left 
Madridejos for Villa-Rubia, whence we again set forward on the 
nth. Between that town and the Guadiana the ground is rather 
marshy. We crossed the river at its source, commonly called Los 
Ojos de la Guadiana. f It flows very slowly, and, generally speak- 

■1 

* The 2d Corps, which was on the bank of the Tagus on the frontier 
of Estremadura, was at first intended to co-operate in the expedition ; 
but direct commands from the Emperor summoned it to the right bank 
of the Tagus, where it was to form the left wing of the army destined to 
operate against Portugal. 

f The eyes of the Guadiana. This name is given to great pools of 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 565 

ing, has but a slight fall. Many wonderful fables as to its origin 
are rife in the country, and Cervantes has made "^use of them in 
one of the most delightful episodes of his Don Quixote. From the 
source of the Guadiana as far as Damiel, the country is pleasant 
and well cultivated, olive-trees especially abounding. After leav- 
ing Damiel, a large and well-built town, where we rested for a 
couple of hours, the road becomes more shaded. We passed 
through a fine plantation of oaks, and found ourselves on an ex- 
tensive plain which conducted us to Almagro. On the nth of 
January our head-quarters were fixed in that town, which is but a 
short distance from the Sierra-Morena. The Duke of Belluna's 
army-corps was there before us, and it was here that our military 
operations commenced. The Marshal, with the right wing of the 
army, advanced towards Almaden del Azogue, * to reach the high 
road to Seville, and avoid the ordinary pass of the Sierra-Morena, 
while the 5 th Corps, which with the Reserve and the Royal Guard 
M^as commanded by Marshal Mortier, and formed the centre of the 
army, marched in a direct line on this pass, f We remained at 
Almagro until the 1 8th of January, waiting for news from Marshal 
Victor, and when we learned that he had effected his movement 
without opposition from the enemy, the centre, consisting of the 
forces I have named, and forming a total of from twenty to twenty- 
two thousand men, left Almagro, and advanced to Santa Cruz de 
Mudela at the foot of the Sierra-Morena, while General Sebastiani 
with the Fourth Army Corps, forming the left wing of the army, 
was leaving Los Infantes and advancing so as to act in concert with 
the centre. All was therefore in preparation for a decisive attack. 
We received intelligence that the enemy had thrown up great earth- 
works in the mountain, that deep cuttings and mining-works had 
been executed in the defile of Despeha Perros\ which crosses the 
Sierra-Morena, and that a serious engagement was expected. 

On the 20th of January at six a. m. we left Santa Cruz, and took 
the high road to the village of Virillo, which we reached at nine 
a. m. The King made no stay there, but continued to accompany 
the army until within a short distance of the Venta de Cardenas^ 
situated at the foot of the pass. 

water, intercepted by masses of earth forming small islands, or more 
strictly speaking, marshes. 

* The famous quicksilver mine of Almaden is situated here. Azogue is 
the Spanish for quicksilver. 

f He had, however, been obliged to send back his artillery ; it had 
been impossible to get the guns along the nearly impassable mountain 
roads. 

X The name of this pass may be rendered thus : a pass where even dogs 
will fall over. Before the road was made, the pass could not be trav- 
ersed without danger. 



5o6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELTTO. 

Our forces were divided into three corps ; Gazan' s division on 
the right, Gerard' s in the centre and on the left, both forming part 
of Marshal Mortier's Corps. Dessolle's .division, which formed 
the reserve, had taken another road on our right, and was turning 
the enemy's positions by an independent movement. 

The attack began towards eleven o'clock. The Spaniards had 
established two batteries on the side of the mountain overlooking 
the defile from the right, and had raised some intrenchments at 
the head of the bridge on the high road, the other side of the Venta 
de Cardefias. In two hours all their positions were carried, the 
batteries were seized by the cavalry, and the road was left with no 
other defence than the two cuttings in the defile, and two or three 
mines in other parts of the pass. These obstacles were soon re- 
moved ; the cuttings, undefended by the enemy, were filled in ; 
only one of the mines exploded, and it produced little effect. At 
two p.m. the pass was entirely free, and the King passed through 
it with his guard. General Gerard's division m.arched on an 
entrenched camp that the Spanish had established on the summit 
of a plateau on our left, and which was known under the name 
of Collado de Jar dines. The division carried it readily^ and forced 
the remainder of the Cordova Regiment, who were holding it 
and part of which had perished in the attack, to lay down their 
arms. 

Meanwhile Dessolle's division was doing its work, and driving 
the enemy before it. Then having crossed the mountain at the 
Puerto del Rey, it rejoined the centre column between Santa-Elena 
and Las Navas de Tolosa. The King passed the night at La Caro- 
lina, where he had arrived at six in the evening. 

Thus, in the course of a few hours, the pass of the Sierra- 
Morena, which seemed the last hope of the Junta, was forced, the 
army that defended it was entirely dispersed, and the gates of 
Andalusia were opened to the French. 

The road we had taken on that day, from Santa-Cruz de Mudela 
as far as La Carolina, is a magnificent one, thoroughly well 
planned. The Despena Perros Pass is rendered practicable by a 
road built cornice-like on the mountain to the right, over a deep 
precipice with a torrent at the bottom. A stone facing supports 
the road for a considerable distance. On the whole it is a fine 
structure. The range of the Sierra-Morena, at the point where we 
crossed it, is not very elevated. At a short distance from the pla- 
teau of Santa Elena, the plains of Navas de Tolosa become visible. 
It was there that Alfonso VIIL gained a decisive victory over the 
Moors in I2I2. 

. On leaving Santa Elena, the view was magnificent. The Anda- 
lusian plains were mapped out before us ; the chain of the Sierra- 



THE CAROLINE. 507 



Morena stretched along on our right from East to West, and in 
the distance on our left we perceived the mountains of Granada 
and the summits of the Sierra-Nevada, which I believe to be the 
highest mountain in Spain. The summits, covered with eternal 
snows, reminded me strongly of the Alps. 

Night overtook us as we began our descent tow^ards La Caro- 
^-; Una. But on the following day, January 21st, I had leisure to 
inspect this thoroughly modern town and its environs. Towards 
the end of the last century (in 1788), the Spanish Government 
had established colonies in the Sierra-Morena, and some other un- 
cultivated parts of Andalusia, which at first had prospered suffi- 
ciently well. But the French Revolution, the prosecution of M. 
Olavidez, who had founded these colonies, by the Inquisition, 
and lastly the war in which Spain had been involved for the last 
two years, had retarded their progress. La Carolina, one of these 
settlements, is of inconsiderable size, but built with regularity. 
Streets laid out in parallel lines, at right angles, and composed of 
well-built and nearly uniform houses, present an agreeable ap- 
pearance. There are gardens in front of some of these houses. 
A fine avenue of trees on the high road to Andalusia, which is 
bordered with several kitchen-gardens, completes one of the most 
charming sites for a dwelling place that I have met with in my 
wanderings. But, at the time of my visit to the spot, its beauty 
was greatly obscured by the damage done during the night to the 
houses and gardens. It was a scene of desolation. 

We left La Carolina towards noon to pass the night at Baylen. 
At a very short distance, to the south of that town, is the battle- 
field where eighteen months previously General Dupont's troops 
had been beaten and forced to capitulate. The disgrace of that 
fatal day had been effaced by the success that our arms had just 
obtained in the same locality. 

At Baylen which was otherwise quite deserted, the King received 
reports of the operations of the corps commanded by General Sebas- 
tiani. The Spanish troops, which had been repulsed by the centre 
of our army on the 20th of January, had thrown themselves on our 
left. There they were attacked by General Sebastiani, who took 
from 7000 to 8000 prisoners, and General Castejon, who com- 
manded the division, was obliged to surrender. We learned at the 
same time that the ist corps had joined the 5th below Andujar. 
Notwithstanding the difficulties of the road. Marshal Victor had 
contrived to get from Almaden to the high road to Cordova, after 
crossing the Guadalquivir at Montoro. Thus the movement that 
had been planned twelve days before at Almagro, had been effect- 
ed with perfect success. 

After sending off his despatches, dated Baylen, to Madrid and 



508 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Paris, the King left that place for Andujar on the 23d of Janu- 
ary. 

The journey from Baylen to Andujar is a delightful one. The 
way lies through a fertile country, abounding in olive groves of 
immense extent. Vegetation is vigorous throughout, and I 
noticed in the uncultivated parts some plants that I had previously 
remarked in the south of Italy or in Corsica, such as the Rose- 
laurel, and on the banks of the streams many varieties of the Cistus 
and the Daphne. 

At a league from Andujar, the Guadalquivir* becomes visible, 
flowing peacefully through a pleasant plain at the foot of a hill. 

Andujar, situated on the right bank of this famous river, is a 
town of considerable size, and some parts of it are well built. 
There is a large plaza, or square, and a fine bridge over the Gua- 
dalquivir. The greater number of the inhabitants had fled from 
their houses on the approach of our troops. As usual, there had 
been much disorder, doors were broken in, and windows smashed, 
part of the town was set on fire, in short, all the evils of war, 
aggravated by want of discipline. 

During the two days we spent at Andujar, the King received the 
news of the occupation of Cordova by the French troops. General 
Vilate had entered the city at the head of a division of Light Cav- 
alry, and of some companies of infantry belonging to the ist Corps. 
No resistance had been made. The inhabitants had remained in 
their houses, and had sent a deputation to receive the General. 
We heard at the same time that the town of Jaen had surrendered 
to General Sebastiani, who, after leaving a garrison there, had 
marched on Granada. 

This good news decided the King on proceeding to Cordova, 
and on the 25th of January we left Andujar. 

After crossing the Guadalquivir by the bridge I have mentioned, 
we followed the high road on the left bank of the river so far as the 
village of Aldea del Rio, where we diverged from it, crossing the 
country on our left to Bujalance, a small but well-built town, with 
a population of 8000 or 9000 souls. None of the inhabitants had 
left the town, and we were well received. On the 26th we returned 
to the Andalusian high road, beyond a town called Carpio, and re- 
crossed the Guadalquivir at the bridge of Alcolea del Rio. This 
fine bridge had not been destroyed as we were told, and the enemy, 
who, it was supposed, would have held a position here, had abandon- 
ed the bridge, after having constructed some earthworks there. At 
about a league from this spot, we began to catch sight of Cordova.: 

* The Arabian name of the Bcetis of the Romans ; Guada, or rather 
ouadael Ke'hir, the Great River. 



CORDOVA. 509 

The aspect of that tower, from a slight eminence on the road, is 
agreeable and picturesque. The surrounding hill sides are covered 
with olive groves, among which small country-houses are scattered. 
The land is well cultivated, and there are all the signs of a delight- 
ful climate, and a fertile country. The town rises in the midst of 
a narrow plain bounded on the west and north by the last slopes of 
the Sierra-Morena, but opening on the east and south, towards the 
Guadalquivir, on whose right bank the town is entirely built. It 
is one of the most ancient cities of Spain. Having long been 
under the domination of the Romans and later under that of the 
Moors, it contains remarkable remains of these two peoples. 

We found that the town was inhabited, and the King was well 
received by the crowds who pressed round him. He took up his 
residence in the Episcopal Palace, built at the Southern extremity 
of the town, on a height which commands the river and the plains 
watered by it. Gardens of orange-trees and myrtles beautify this 
abode, which is most happily situated. 

We remained three days at Cordova, waiting until Marshal Vic- 
tor, who was advancing along the Andalusian road through Ecija 
and Carmona, should have passed the latter town. I took advan- 
tage of our stay to visit some of the principal buildings, and 
especially the Cathedral, which was built by the Moors, and is 
alleged to have been the chief mosque of Cordova. 

The whole edifice consists of one building, constructed on a vast 
parallelogram. The exterior is an enclosure formed by a wall of 
about thirty feet in height from the floor of the building, and a few 
feet higher from the pavement of the streets, which are lower to the 
east and north, being on an ascent towards the west. This wall is 
of very simple architecture. It is only ornamented at intervals 
with projecting towers, square shaped, and with a crenelated edge. 

Part of the enclosure is empty, and forms a court or garden, 
surrounded with porticoes adorned with fountains of limpid water, 
and planted v/ith orange-trees, cypresses, and palm-trees. 

A very lofty steeple rises on the west side of the court. It is sup- 
ported by a great arch, which serves also as an entrance-porch. 
These are quite modern, and date from the time when the Gothic 
style was in part abandoned, and became mixed with Greek or 
Roman architecture. 

Two doors lead from this court, or garden, into the interior of 
the Church. That one which is opposite the steeple, and by which 
I entered, is ornamented with two fragments of milliary pillars, 
one bearing an inscription of the time of Augustus, and the other 
an inscription of the time of Tiberius. The letters have been re- 
stored and modernized, and even a date of the modern era has been 
added. Below the right hand pillar, an Arabic inscription is vis- 



5IO MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ible on the wall. The other door is at the extreme end of the 
court, and is also adorned with a milliary pillar.* 

On reaching the interior, one is struck with the curious aspect of 

* I copied the inscriptions ; they are as follows : 

On the pillar to the left of the principal entrance, opposite the steeple : 
Imp. Caesar. Divi. F. 
Augustus. Cos. XIII. Trib. 
Potest. XXI. Pontif. Max. 
A. Baete. et. Jano. Augus. 
Ad. Oceanum. 
' IXIIII. 
In modern characters, underneath this inscription, I read, 

Hoc. Anno. Natus. 
D. N. Jesus. Christ. 

On the second pillar to the right of the same entrance : 

Ti. Caesar. Divi. Augusti. F. 

Divi. Julii. Nepos. Augus. 

Ponlif. Max. XXI. Cos. 

V. Imp. Trib. Potes. XXXVII. 

Ab. Jano. Augusto. Qui. Est. 

Ad. Baetim. Usque. Ad. 

Oceanum. 

XXIIII. 

Below this, in modern characters : 

HOC. ANNO. PASSIO. D. N. 
JHS. XP. JUXTA. CASSIO. 

On the pillar to the right of the second entrance : 

C. Caesar. Germa. 

nicus. Germanici. 

Caesaris. F. Ti. Aug. N. 

Divi. Aug. PRON. Divi. 

Julii. ABN. Aug. Pat. PAR. 

Cos. II. Imp. Trib. Pote 

State. II. Pont. Max. 

A. Baete. et. Jano. Augusto. 

Ad. Oceanum. 

On this third pillar there is neither milliary sign, nor any modern in- 
scription. 

The name of Janus occurring in the three inscriptions leads to the sup- 
position that Augustus, who had had the glory of closing the temple of 
Janus at Rome, had raised a temple to that god at Cordova on the banks 
of the Betis, or else that the inhabitants of that town, in order to flatter 
the Emperor by perpetuating the memory of so notable an event, had 
themselves raised it. It was from this temple that the itinerary measure 
started. 

The two L's joined together in the form x in the two first inscriptions, 
signify twice fifty or one hundred. Thus from Cordova to the sea, the 
distance was reckoned at one hundred and thirteen or one hundred and 
fourteen thousand Roman feet. The abbreviation CASSIO represents 
the name of the chronologer Cassiodorus. 



THE CATHEDRAL AT CORDOVA. 51I 

this singular building. At the first glance, nothing is distinguish- 
able but a forest of little pillars, ten or twelve feet high, in rows 
parallel with the length of the building, and divided into quincunxes 
separated each from the other by an empty space of twenty-five 
feet. Each of these pillars supports the arbacus of a small arch 
springing from one column to another and itself surmounted by a 
second arch of eccentric form, thus leaving a space between the 
two in the shape of a crescent. The higher arches support the 
shafts of a vault which constitutes the roof between each row of 
pillars. 

In the central space, several rows of pillars and arches have been 
destroyed, to provide room for the construction of a choir and a 
nave, entirely modern in design, and covered with gilding, paint- 
ing, and other ornamentation quite out of keeping with the sim- 
plicity of the rest of the edifice. In other parts small chapels and 
devotional altars have been erected without regard to the symmetrical 
order of the arcades ; with the result of producing unequal spaces 
and irregular openings, which disfigure the building, and quite 
destroy the majestic effect that would result from the simplicity and 
unity which doubtless originally constituted the principal beauty of 
the building. 

It would appear that this edifice was built by the Moors, with 
the fragments of some temple or theatre of Roman construction. 
The columns are all either of marble or granite, of graceful pro- 
portion, and without either base or pedestal ; * but all have Corin- 
thian capitals finished or unfinished, and those that are completed 
are evidently of Roman handiwork. 

I particularly remarked the so-called baptistery, or chapel of the 
Baptismal Font, which is much richer in ornament than the rest of 
the edifice. It is said to be on the spot where the Koran was 
formerly deposited. The chapel is of the same design as the 
others, but the double arcades are cut into deep indentations, and 
car/ed with flowers and leaves, in the style which from its Arabian 
origin, has been called Arabesque. The design is rich and not ill 
executed, though the manner is somewhat formal. On the north 
fagade, I also remarked some doors and windows in good preserva- 
tion, and decorated in the same style as the chapel of which I am 
speaking. The same kind of ornamentation probably existed on 
the four facades, but the changes and repairs which have been 
effected at various times to adapt the building to its new purposes 
have obliterated the carvings. 

Such is this edifice, which is more interesting than beautiful, and 
such is the impression that I received from it 

* The Milliary columns in the court are on bases of the Corinthian order. 



512 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

During my stay at Cordova I also visited the Alcazar. That 
ancient palace of the Moorish kings of Cordova, was, at the time 
of my visit, in the occupation of the Inquisition. It is situated on 
the banks of the Guadalquivir, at a short distance from the Cathe- 
dral, and retains few traces of its former self ; a few square, battle- 
mented towers are the sole remains of the work of the Moors. 
But the situation of the building is admirable, as are also the river- 
side gardens, and the fountains springing up amid them. At the 
time that I wandered through them, they were planted with the 
finest orange-trees I had ever beheld. My guide pointed out one 
in particular, called el Moro, probably because it is supposed to 
date from the time of the Moors ; and this is indeed very prob- 
able. The principal branches are propped up with masonry, hav- 
ing become too heavy for the aged trunk. 

We left Cordova early in the morning on the 29th of January, 
and after crossing the bridge, resumed our route on the left bank 
of the Guadalquivir. At first our road lay, for about two leagues, 
along a plain, then we entered a small mountain range enclosing 
a district which is quite new. It formerly consisted of broad 
uncultivated wastes ; but for twenty years the ground had been 
gradually cleared, and pretty dwelling-places erected, forming 
what were called at that time the colonies of Andalusia. La Car- 
lotta, a pretty town, of very regular construction and in the mod- 
ern style, was the chief place of these settlements, which, like those 
of the Sierra-Morena of which I have already spoken, are the cre- 
ation of M. Olavides. La Carlotta had suffered no harm. On 
the whole, as we made further progress, we found provisions 
for our soldiers in greater abundance, the inhabitants having 
remained in their dwellings, and there were fewer signs of dis- 
order. Thus we were no longer distressed by the melancholy 
spectacles that had hitherto grieved us, and our journey from Cor- 
dova to Ecija and Carmona, where we remained while waiting to 
learn the result of Marshal Victor's and Marshal Mortier's move- 
ments, was particularly agreeable. The vegetation was of a novel 
kind. Hedge-rows of Cactus-opuntia and of Agava bordered the 
fields. Here and there date-bearing palm-trees stood high against 
the sky and grew luxuriantly in the fields ; the Fan-palm-tree 
{ChamcErops humilis) was also very plentiful.* Everything pro- 
claimed that we were approaching the extremity of Europe and 
drawing near to Africa. Between Ecija and Carmona, we passed 
through several settlements similar to those we had seen between 
Cordova and Ecija. La Louisiana is the principal one. This vil- 

* These Fan-palms are gathered for the purpose of making brooms com- 
monly used in Andalusia, and almost the only kind that is known there. 



A MILITARY QUESTION. 513 

lage, pretty and pleasant, is situated on the high road, and a 
league farther on, we came to La Monclea, a large farm of the 
modern style, with a fine oilmill, cisterns, granaries, large stables, 
and in short, all the necessary adjuncts of an agricultural establish- 
ment on a scale almost unknown in Spain. The principal build- 
ing is situated on a height commanding a valley through which 
runs the Madre Vieja, which is spanned by a very fine bridge. 
Magnificent palm-trees in picturesque groups gave an aspect as 
attractive as it was novel to these buildings. 

The King, who had reached Carmona on the 30th of January, 
remained there on the following day. There was an important 
decision to be taken before going farther. A little way beyond 
Carmona, * which is only at five or six miles distance from Seville, 
the high road bifurcates. One branch leads to Seville, the other, 
through Utrera and Xeres de la Frontera, to Cadiz. The question 
to be determined was whether the army should continue to ad- 
vance in the latter direction, leaving Seville on its rear, in order to 
march at once on Cadiz, or whether Seville should be taken before 
attacking Cadiz. 

The first alternative was doubtless the more soldierly. If there 
were any reasonable hope of taking Cadiz, it was by surprising the 
place, and making use of the first moments of confusion and terror 
into which a sudden invasion would have thrown the town ; and 
Seville would follow the example of Cadiz. Once driven from the 
latter city the Junta and all its influence would be destroyed. Be- 
sides this, we might come up with the Duke of Albuquerque's 
corps, which, on hearing that the French had forced the pass of 
the Sierra- Morena, had hastily left Estremadura, and was retreating 
by forced marches on Cadiz, f These troops, consisting of ten or 
twelve thousand men, were scarcely a day's march in advance of 
the French army which had entered Carmona on the 29th of Jan- 
uary, l And supposing that we failed alike to surprise Cadiz, and 
to join the Duke of Albuquerque, at least we should not have to 
reproach ourselves with not having made the attempt, and Seville 
would be equally able to defend herself. At the most, there 

* At the village of Alcala de Guadaira. 

f The Junta had ordered the Duke of Albuquerque to proceed with his 
corps to defend the passes of the Sierra-Morena, but Castanos in a pri- 
vate letter begged him in the most urgent terms to march as soon as pos- 
sible to the assistance of Cadiz, and to disregard the orders of the Junta, 
and he resolved on marching in the latter direction. To this action of 
the Duke of Albuquerque and to the foolish decision taken on the 31st 
of January at the French head-quarters, may be attributed the salvation 
of Cadiz, and perhaps that of Spain. 

t The Duke of Albuquerque only entered Cadiz, which he saved by 
his presence, on the 3d of February. 



514 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

might be a delay of a few days before taking possession of that 
town. 

The other case was different. The occupation of Seville had 
no influence on that of Cadiz. All the chiefs of the opposition 
against whom we had to contend, were in the latter place, which 
was also the refuge- of the Junta. In Seville, we should find only 
the authorities of the town and the municipality, but no members 
of the Government, or representatives of the nation, with whom to 
treat. However quickly the town might be taken, it would cost 
us the loss of at least four or five days, and those days were de- 
cisive : they would give Cadiz time to breathe, and the chiefs time 
to concert together ; the English would have an opportunity of ex- 
erting their influence, and the garrison would have time to gather 
confidence from the situation of the town, and to provide the first 
works for its defence. 

These suggestions, which were natural enough, were made, but 
they were not heeded. The same mistake that led to the failure 
of all our operations in Spain, was the cause of this irreparable 
blunder also. It was believed that with the surrender of Seville 
the war would come to a close, just as a year before the same be- 
lief had existed concerning Madrid, and there was so strong a con- 
viction that the goal and the fruit of the expedition were to be 
found at Seville, that at the King's dinner-table at Carmona, at 
which I was present, with his ministers and several generals, I 
heard Marshal Soult declare himself openly for the march on 
Seville, saying : *' Let me be sure of Seville, and I will answer for 
Cadiz!" 

It is, however, scarcely probable that a man so experienced and 
so skilful in war should really fall into so manifest an error. The 
intention of the Marshal, as the sequel has shown, was to fix him- 
self in Andalusia ; and if at that moment Cadiz were to fall into 
the hands of the French, his presence in the conquered province 
would no longer be necessary, and his aim would be missed. 

The decision, which turned out so unfortunately, was taken, 
and the whole of the army, instead of taking the road to Cadiz, re- 
ceived orders to march on Seville. * 

The King had at first hoped to enter the capital of Andalusia on 

* Unless we admit that Marshal Soult did not at that time desire the 
fall of Cadiz, it is difficult to understand why a sudden attack on that 
town should not have been combined with the advance on Seville. Both 
expeditions could easily have been accomplished. A small body of 
troops was sufficient to take possession of Seville, which was then quite 
unable to make any serious resistance, and there was nothing to prevent 
Marshal Victor with the rest of the army from marching forwards at once 
to surprise Cadiz, and come up with Albuquerque and defeat him. 



A GRAND PARADE. 515 



the 31 St of January, but we heard in the morning, that, on the 
previous day, the Spaniards had fired on our outposts which had 
advanced beneath the ramparts of the town, and the march of the 
head-quarters was countermanded. However, as nothing further 
occurred, the King left Carmona early on the ist of February, and 
on reaching Alcala de Guadaira, we learned that Marshal Victor 
had concluded the negotiations begun that night with the magis- 
trates concerning the surrender of the town, and that the capitula- 
tion was signed. Shortly afterwards a deputation, consisting of 
the principal inhabitants, came out to meet the King. We set 
out, therefore, towards 10 a.m. The sun was shining in all his 
splendour over the immense plain in which Seville is situated, and 
gilding the Giralda * and the numerous spires which rise from 
the town. We were filled with admiration of this splendid spec- 
tacle. 

At three quarters of a league from the town, we found Marshal 
Victor's corps drawn up in order of battle on either side of the 
road. The troops, all in parade order, were a splendid sight ; the 
joy of success shone in every countenance. The King as he passed 
through was received with loud acclamations, and he then made 
his entry into the town preceded by his guard. He was received 
and followed by an immense crowd of the people who filled the 
streets and public places as far as the Alcazar, where he dismount- 
ed from his horse and took up his residence. Cries of Vwa el rey 
arose on every side. Curiosity and fear had no doubt a greater 
share in that triumphant reception than any other sentiments ; 
but whatever may have been its true cause, it seemed at the time 
to justify the occupation of Seville. Once more we believed our- 
selves to have reached the end of the war, and the King rejoiced 
more than ever at having, in opposition to some of his advisers, 
undertaken an expedition which had been so rapidly successful ; 
twenty days only had elapsed since we had left Madrid. 

The unexpected success of the campaign inspired confidence, 
which displayed itself in all the public acts emanating from head- 
quarters, after the army had crossed the Sierra-Morena. A proc- 
lamation by the King, published during his stay at Cordova, and 
drawn up in imitation of the style of the Emperor, had announced 
"that immutable destiny had already decided the fate of Spain, 
and that all resistance had become unavailing. ' ' An order of the 
day, dated Seville, February i, containing the King's thanks to 
the army, was expressed in still more presumptuous terms : 

'/The war with Austria," so it ran, "that has just been so 
gloriously ended by the Emperor, had revived the hopes of the 

* The cathedral tower of Seville is so called. 



5l6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

English cabinet. English troops in Spain were to conquer Ma-- 
drid, and there create an important diversion ; but they learned a 
lesson at Talavera, and no longer dared to present themselves. 

' ' The insurrectionary forces, on being abandoned by their so- 
called allies, made a last attempt at the moment of the pacification 
of Vienna. Ocaiia destroyed their senseless projects. Soldiers ! 
you recognised in those troops your own brethren led astray by 
the common enemy. You desired to save them, and I received 
them as my children. 

' ' Frenchmen ! that recollection will never be effaced from my 
memory. I shall reign in Spain, but France will live for ever in 
my heart. 

" The barriers placed by Nature between the North and the 
South of Spain have fallen. You have met with friends only be- 
yond the Sierra-Morena ; Jaen, Cordova, Granada and Seville have 
flung open their gates. You have traversed those provinces in the 
same peaceable and orderly spirit with which you would have 
marched through Languedoc or Burgundy. Welcome from the 
inhabitants, abundance, and peace, have been the reward of your 
conduct. 

" Soldiers of Talavera, of Almonacid, of Arzobispo, of Ocaiia, 
of Sierra-Morena ! how can I express all I owe you ! 

** I recall to your mind" your own conduct. The Emperor shall 
hear of it. 

*' The King of Spain desires that between the pillars of Hercules 
a third pillar shall arise, to recall to posterity and to the navigators 
of both the new and the old world the memory of the officers and 
men of the French army, who drove back the English, saved thirty 
thousand Spaniards, pacified ancient Betica, and regained for France 
her natural allies."*^ 

The reader will perceive that in this proclamation the King care- 
fully avoided any reference to conquest or invasion. According 
to him, we might believe that the Andalusian provinces were only 
recognising their legitimate king, and that the French army, in 
driving out a band of insurgents, had but restored to the country 
the power of expressing its true sentiments. 

This was a delusion ; but, at first, everything contributed to 
strengthen it. Joseph had been enabled to establish the seat of 
his Government in the Alcazar at Seville, where the Junta had re- 
sided for the past year. In the same spot where his name had so 
often been reviled he now received the homage of the magistracy, 

* Such is the wording of the order of the day, as published at Seville 
and translated into Spanish. The reader will hereafter see the altera- 
tions in it, made by the Emperor, on its appearance in the Moniteur. 



SEVILLE. 517 

of the chief merchants of one of the largest cities in Spain, and of 
humble deputations from her richest provinces. And, that nothing 
might be wanting to the triumph of the moment, Fortune had 
decreed that he should find in the cathedral of Seville the eagles 
and the colours that had been taken at Bay 1 en, and that he should 
have the glory of restoring those trophies to France. 

But, when the first glow of success began to fade, and that it 
became possible to appreciate the real position of affairs, the diffi- 
culties still remaining were found to be much greater than they 
had seemed at first. The impression produced by the passage of 
the Sierra-Morena and the occupation of Seville did not extend 
and increase as had been hoped. Cadiz seemed no nearer a sur- 
render. Again, therefore, it became necessary to have recourse to 
arms, and with renewed activity. Marshal Victor, at the head of 
the 1st Army Corps, had left Seville on the 2d of February, and 
was marching on Cadiz, and Marshal Mortier with the 5th Corps 
was advancing in Estremadura, in hopes of surprising Badajoz. 
Neither of those expeditions was successful. The 4th Corps under 
General Sebastiani was more fortunate. Jaen, Granada, and 
Malaga opened their gates one after the other, and by the begin- 
ning of February that part of Andalusia was entirely subjugated. 

While awaiting the issue of these movements, the King re- 
mained at Seville, and I took advantage of my stay there to ex- 
amine that celebrated city and its environs. 

Seville, next to Barcelona, the largest town in Spain, is situated 
on the left bank of the Guadalquivir, which divides it from a very 
fine suburb on the right bank. The river, which is crossed by a 
bridge of boats communicating with the suburb and with the road 
to Estremadura, is sufficiently deep for vessels of three or four 
thousand tons to ascend it as far as the bridge. Handsome flights 
of steps, and a quay on the side of the suburb, facilitate the im- 
port and export of merchandise. Fine avenues* of trees form the 
public promenade on the city side, and at the end facing the 
bridge is a marble group on a lofty pedestal, adorned with Ionic 
columns. This is a curious work of art, consisting of two male 
figures seated, one represents the Eternal Father, the other the 
Divine Son ; between them is a dove completing the Holy 
Trinity. The work is in bad taste. 

All this part of the town is handsome, and pleasing to the eye. 
In the interior the streets are narrow and winding, but, generally, 
well constructed. The houses are almost all of uniform design, 
consisting of a large, square courtyard, surrounded by arcades, 

* One of these avenues is of Sapotilla {Achras sapotilia), a tree cultK 
vated at the Antilles. 



5l8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

supported on pillars ; the upper story is a gallery on the arcades 
from which the rooms open. 

Seville contains several remarkable buildings : the Alcazar, the 
Cathedral, the Lonja (Stock Exchange), all three in the centre of the 
town, * and in addition to these, beautiful churches and wealthy con- 
vents. The Cathedral is a vast Gothic edifice of very great height, 
but with nothing noteworthy in its architecture. A square tower at 
one of its angles, on the east side, serves as a belfry. At the top of 
the tower to which there is easy access by a convenient staircase, is a 
weather-cock, in the form of a female figure, known as the Giralda. 
The interior is adorned with pictures of the Spanish school, by 
Zurbaran, Murillo, Valdes, Herrera, Louis de Vargas, and others. 

The Alcazar, formerly the palace of the Moorish Kings, retains 
many traces of its origin. The courts, the window-arches, even the 
interior of the apartments, are ornamented with arabesques dating 
from the rule of the Moors in Spain. A portion, however, of 
these decorations is modern, and merely an imitation of Moorish 
work. The gardens, enclosed within the palace walls, are of vast 
extent, and watered by sparkling streams ; but the buildings and 
shrubberies are, generally speaking, in bad taste. The whole, 
when seen from a terrace on the south side of the palace, is^ how- 
ever, picturesque and curious. 

Tobacco is manufactured in a large building divided by a street 
from the Alcazar. The exterior of the establishment is very hand- 
some, and rather that of a palace than a factory. Besides ordinary 
tobacco and cigars, polvo, known as Spanish snuff, is manufac- 
tured there ; and I believe has never been made in any place ex- 
cept Seville. 

The Lonja (Stock Exchange), built on Juan Herrera' s f plans, is 

* My attention was called to the arms of the town on the facade of 
that building. They form a curious rebus. They consist of a skein of 
thread in the shape of the figure 8 ; on one side are the letters NO, on 
the other DO ; thus : 

NO 9 DO 

In order to understand this symbol, it must be explained that a skein of 
thread, in Spanish is viadexa ; thus by reading in a straight line we get 
these words, No madexa do, which spelt properly would run thus : No me 
ha dexado, ** He has not forsaken me," and this is, in fact, the meaning 
of the symbol. It originated in the following way. Hard pressed by 
the Moors, the town of Seville asked for help from the King of Castile. 
That sovereign hastened to send to its succour and assisted the inhabi- 
tants to drive out the Moors. The town perpetuated her gratitude by 
adopting for motto, " No me ha dexado,'' turned by a wit of the time into 
the above riddle, which Seville adopted for her arms. 

f One of the architects of the Escurial. I shall have occasion to speak 
of him hereafter. 



ITALICA. 519 

remarkable for its elegant simplicity and for the excellent style of 
its porticoes and galleries. The latter contain the archives of the 
Indies, arranged in spacious shelves supported by mahogany pil-- 
lars. Among these archives, which are kept in admirable order, 
there used to be original letters of Christopher Columbus, Fernand 
Cortez and Pizarro ; but they had been removed to Cadiz by the 
Junta. 

The cannon-foundry is one of the finest establishments of the 
kind in Europe. The architecture of the building is handsome, 
and well adapted to its purpose. The copper used in the foundry 
comes chiefly from the Riotinto mine ; the lead, from Linarez, a 
short distance from Baylen. 

On the 7th of February, I accompanied the King to Italica. 
The remains of that ancient town, the birthplace of three Roman 
Emperors, * are at a short distance to the west of Seville, near a 
small village called San-Tiponce, which, however, contains a fine 
convent dedicated to San Isidoro. The parish church is dedicated 
to St. Germain, who, according to tradition, suffered martyrdom 
at Italica. 

There remain few traces of the former splendour of that town. 
There are, however, some fine and interesting ruins of a vast amphi- 
theatre, and a mosaic pavement representing the nine Muses, 
which has been described by M. de Laborde. There are besides 
some remains of aqueducts and fountains, the work of the Romans, 
but in a very dilapidated state. Excavations on the site of the 
town had resulted in some fragments of statuary and pillars, which 
had been formed into a collection at the Alcazar of Seville, where 
I saw them, f The Marquis d'Almenara possessed a hand of 
Jupiter holding the thunderbolt, that was discovered in one of the 
excavations. This fragment of antique sculpture appeared to me 
to be of extreme beauty. 

I will now return to our military operations. Marshal Victor 
had arrived at Xeres on the 5th of February, and summoned Cadiz 

* These three emperors were : 

Trajan ; the historians who give Italica as his birthplace are Appianus 
of Alexandria (Z>^ bello hispanico) and Eutropius. 

Adrian ; belonging to a family of Cadiz, but born at Italica according 
to -^lianus, Spartianus, Eutropius, and Aulus-GelHus. 
S Theodosius, successor to Gratianus and Valentinian, was also born at 
Italica, according to some historians, though many others name another 
town as his native place, but all of them assign his birth to Spain, 

f The most remarkable of these antiquities are : two mutilated statues 
t&f colossal size, of very fine workmanship, and evidently imperial statues ; 
another with part of the head mutilated, and which would seem to be 
that of Nerva from other mutilated statues, life-sized, and several fune- 
real inscriptions. 



520 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to surrender, without effect. The King resolved therefore to pro- 
ceed to the spot, and left Seville on the 12th. On reaching Utrera 
we learned that the Duke of Albuquerque with the troops under 
his command had entered Isla de Leon on the 3d of February, 
and was preparing to defend the town. His presence certainly 
saved Cadiz from a sudden attack, and the consequences of the 
mistake we had made in remaining at Seville instead of pushing 
on to Cadiz soon became apparent. That we still entertained 
some hope was proved by the attempts that were made to bring 
about the surrender of the town. But they soon completely van- 
ished. 

On hearing that Albuquerque was at Isla de Leon, an evil 
augury for the future, we left Utrera on the morning of the 13th, 
and at the end of a long day's journey across an almost desert 
country, we arrived at Xeres de la Frontera : day was beginning 
to close in, but we could still enjoy the charming prospect afford- 
ed bv that beautiful town, which seems to rise from the bosom of 
a forest of olive-trees, palm-trees and cypresses. We could ad- 
mire the surrounding gardens and the vineyards that produce that 
celebrated wine of Xeres (Sherr}^), one of the principal branches 
of commerce in Andalusia. The interior of the town, with its large 
and airy streets, and fine well-built houses, perfectly corresponds 
with the ideas conveyed by its external appearance. Everything 
bespeaks prosperity, due to a fertile soil, a glorious climate, and 
the situation of the town, close to a large seaport. Xeres is des- 
tined by all these, and by its rich agricultural produce, to every 
kind of prosperity. Although we were at a distance of only four 
leagues from Cadiz, the King was greeted with acclamations by 
the inhabitants of Xeres, and the welcome we received might have 
made us believe ourselves in the midst of a friendly people. Yet 
we stayed only two days at Xeres, and left the city on the 4th of 
February for Puerto-Santa- Maria. 

The road from Xeres to Santa-Maria is very pleasant. After 
traversing a well-cultivated plain for about a league the traveller 
reaches by a very gentle slope the summit of the hills which over- 
look the basin of Cadiz. From this spot, which is marked by 
two pillars, each surmounted with a cross, the environs of Cadiz 
are distinctly visible. But, fitly to enjoy this magnificent view, 
the traveller should bear to the right, towards a signal station 
called Buenavesta, situated on the highest point of the hill. We 
made our way thither, and the view which we enjoyed amply re- 
warded us. 

Down in the plain we could see the winding course of the 
Guadaleta, a little river that runs through marshes to the bay of 
Cadiz ; the picturesque town of Puerto-Santa-Maria, on the great 



PUERTO-SANTA-MARIA. 521 

bay ; opposite this the city and harbour of Cadiz ; on the left the 
town of Puerto-Real ; farther on, the httle bay of Caraca and the 
dockyards for ship building ; Isla de Leon, and the narrow isthmus 
that unites the continent and the peninsula on which Cadiz is sit- 
uated ; beyond lay the ocean, reaching to the horizon. Towards 
the centre of this great picture is the Strait of Trocadero, which 
connects the great bay with the small one, in which are the naval 
establishments of the State, the entrance being guarded by the 
fort of Matagorda and Puntalez. On the right we could see the 
town of Rota, and the Andalusian coast, to the mouth of the 
Guadalquivir. The background of the picture is occupied by the 
to^\•n of Xeres, and the Sierra de Xeres mountains, dividing the 
basin of Cadiz from that of Gibraltar. 

Puerto-Santa- Maria, where the King established his head-quar- 
ters on the 14th of February, is a town containing fifteen thousand 
inhabitants. It is well built, with wide rectangular streets, some 
of them having foot-pavements. An appearance of life and pros- 
perity indicates the neighbourhood of the large city, of which 
Santa-Maria is, so to speak, one of the suburbs. 

On the day after our arrival, I walked along the shore of the 
bay to Fort Santa Catalina. It is on the farthest promontory^ of 
the coast, and at the shortest distance from Cadiz. I could 
clearly distinguish the houses in the town, and the principal build- , 
ings, and the vessels in the Bay, under the protection of the bat- 
teries, might be counted. At the time of my visit there were 
eleven or twelve Spanish or French vessels (for the latter, the scat- 
tered remnant of Trafalgar, were under Spanish colours), and four 
English men-of-war and as many frigates. On succeeding days I 
visted Puerto-Real and Chiclana, the other suburbs of Cadiz, 
equally pleasant and well built 

During our stay at Puerto-Santa- INIaria, several flags of truce 
were sent on various pretexts into Cadiz. They were received and 
listened to, so long as they presented themselves as bearers of the 
customary communication between besiegers and besieged. But 
any demand of surrender, any attempt even to introduce political 
negotiations was firmly rejected. The principal cause of this de- 
termined opposition no doubt lay in the feeling of security with 
which the situaUon of Cadiz, almost unassailable by land, inspired 
its inhabitants. But, independendy of this, the internal condition 
of the city, and the polidcal movements taking place, would have 
prevented any portion of the people who might have been inclined 
for negotiation from expressing their opinions. 

To make the reader understand what was then taking place 
among the Party of Resistance in Cadiz, I must retrace my steps, 
and begin a little farther back in the histor}- of events. 



522 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

We have already seen how, in consequence of the incapacity and 
presumption of the Central Junta, the Spanish armies had been 
successively defeated and scattered, and how^ at the end of Novem- 
ber 1809, only a wreck of the national means of defence remained. .^^^ 
At the same time, the great majority of the members of that 
Supreme Tribunal, instead of setting an example of the self-devo- 
tion and patriotic abnegation which they inculcated upon the na- ,,., 
tion in their proclamations, had taken shameless advantage of ,r 
their position to satisfy their cupidity.* By acting in this way the 
Junta had lost all public esteem and regard, and had become an 
object of general contempt, and when the French crossed the 
Sierra-Morena, and the Junta was obliged to leave Seville, that 
body had already incurred so much dislike, that several of its ; , 
members were in serious danger on the short journey from Seville-, 
to Cadiz. At Xeres, the President Archbishop of Laodicia and 
two of the most unpopular members of the Junta were attacked 
by the mob, and would have been killed, had not some of the 
citizens dispersed the crowd by the device of takingthe Archbishop 
and his two colleagues to the convent of La Chartreuse where they 
were received as prisoners of State. When it was known at Cadiz 
that the Junta was about to arrive, the people rose up in aims. 
General Castanos was at that time discharging the duties of Cap- 
tain-General of Andalusia and was at Isla de Leon. He endeav- 
oured to tranquillise the people and contrived to assemble the 
Junta at Cadiz. But the members who ventured into the streets,,, 
were assailed with shouts and insults, and very soon none of them '^ 
dared to appear in the daytime. The Junta perceived that it must 
yield, and convened the Cortes, appointing them to meet at Isla , 
de Leon on the ist of March, 18 10. But this tardy concession,' T 
not made until the French were advancing in all parts of Anda- 
lusia, was not enough, and although great hopes were built on..,,, 
the approaching meeting of the Cortes, everyone felt the necessity, 
of a prompter remedy. Crowds assembled, clamouring loudly for a 
regency. Resistance would have been vain, and the Junta at last 
relinquished its rule, which was conferred, until the meeting of 
the Cortes, on a regency consisting of five members, the Bishop 
of Orense,f as President; Saavedra, Minister of Finance; Gen- 
eral Castanos, Minister of the Navy ; and Fernandez de Leon, 

* After the battle of Ocafia, the Junta was in a very critical position, 
and most of the members hastened to convert their property into ready 
money which they contrived to send to England or America. Among 
others a certain Count de Tilly embarked at Cadiz and arrived at Phila- y 
delphia with a fortune of several millions of piastres. J.. 

f He had made himself conspicuous by his proclamations against the ' 
French, and had greatly contributed to arm Galicia against them. 



THE CONDITION OF CADIZ. 523 

Minister of Justice. The latter resigned a few days later, and was 
succeeded by Don Miguel Ardizabal. A private Junta, chosen 
among the merchants of Cadiz, was at the same time placed at the 
head of the Municipal Government of the town. 

On the dissolution of the Central Junta, the new Government 
was installed, and its first care was for the defence of the little spot 
in which it had taken refuge, a defence on which the fate of the 
monarchy would depend. The English were appealed to for help, 
but for the moment they could only spare a few hundred men 
from the garrison of Gibraltar. The vessels taken from the 
French,* and the Spanish ships were brought into the Bay of 
Cadiz, f and were got ready to put to sea at the first signal. 
General Castanos ordered the general enrolment of all men fit to 
bear arms. 

Bat these measures were still very far from sufficing for the 
pressing needs of the defence. Notwithstanding the help sent from 
Gibraltar, both the town and the Isle of Leon were almost without 
troops, and those whom the English were sending from Lisbon 
could not arrive under two or three weeks. The population of 
Cadiz was every day increased by the influx of those persons, 
who, being alarmed at the approach of the French, came thither 
for safety, and this added to the difficulties, without increasing the 
strength of the defence. 

It was at this moment of extreme distress that a deliverer appeared 
in the person of the Duke d' Albuquerque, who, as I have already 
said, reached the Isle of Leon on the 3d of February with the 
troops which he had brought from Estremadura to the help of 
Cadiz. His totally unexpected arrival, the general esteem in which 
he was held, the special affection felt for him by the English, all 
contributed to revive the courage of the inhabitants and to concen- 
trate their hopes and energies on one single aim. The command- 
in-chief was conferred on him by the Regency. The terror that 
had been felt at the approach of the French was gradually dis- 
pelled. The means of resistance were calculated up, and the pro- 
posed defence no longer seemed rash and foolhardy. The ap- 
proaches to the Isle of Leon, very difficult in themselves by reason 
of the marshy nature of the soil, were fortified and strengthened 
with formidable batteries. The narrow causeway connecting it 
with the continent was cut through. All the troops were cantoned 
in the neighbourhood of the village of Isla, as being the most ex- 

* I have already said that the French vessels that had escaped from 
Trafalgar had taken refuge at Cadiz. The Spanish had seized on them 
on the breaking out of hostilities. 

t The outer bay. Until then they had been in the interior Bay of 
Puntales. 



524 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

posed point. A civic guard only remained in Cadiz for the in- 
ternal garrison and police of the town. 

Such was the political and military situation of Cadiz when the 
French sat down before it, on the 6th of February, to commence 
the siege. I have already spoken of the inutility of Marshal Vic- 
tor's summons to surrender, and I have now explained its cause. 
A more direct attempt made by Marshal Soult was equally un- 
successful. He had written to the Duke of Albuquerque on the 
loth of February, once more calling upon him to surrender the 
town, and proposing an interview. In this letter the Marshal also 
expressed his compassion for the inhabitants of Cadiz, shut up in 
a city which would soon be exposed to all the horrors of a siege. 
He entreated them to trust themselves to the King, and to take ad- 
vantage, while it was yet time, of his clemency, and of the con- 
sideration with which he was disposed to treat them. Lastly, he 
warned them to be on their guard against the English, who, under 
pretext of helping them, sought only to get possession of their 
ships and their commerce. 

The Duke of Albuquerque declined the conference ; but he 
sent a courteously-worded reply to the Marshal, giving him some 
details which must have convinced the latter of the immense mis- 
take he had made in not marching directly on Cadiz. 

' ' The state of the place is such, ' ' wrote the Duke of Albuquerque, 
" that we have nothing to fear from an army of a hundred thou- 
sand men. There is no comparison between our state of de- 
fence at present, and that of a few days since. The Spaniards 
had powerful means of defence close at hand, and they have made 
use of them. They no longer rely on the ancient fortifications of 
Cadiz, but on new and very superior works, which they have in- 
creased even to a superfluous strength. The faithful Spanish 
subjects of Ferdinand VH. will not lay down their arms until they 
have regained their rights. They have recovered from the alarm 
caused by the invasion of the French, because they know that they 
are really masters only of the territory that they actually occupy." 

Referring to the interest displayed by the Marshal in the inhabi- 
tants of Cadiz, the Duke of Albuquerque said that he ventured in 
his turn to advise him to renounce an enterprise in which he would 
sacrifice his men to no purpose. 

He alludes also to the insinuations against the English contained 
in the Marshal's letter. 

" The English," he writes, " have no other intention than that 
of helping us. The defenders of Cadiz are Spaniards, and by 
their side stand their allies the English and the Portuguese. " 

A letter written by the King himself, a few days later, and ad- 
dressed to influential members of the Junta, which was believed to 



SAN-LUCAR. 525 



be still in power, was no better received than that of the Marshal, 
md received only the following laconic answer. '* The city of 
Cadiz, faithful to her principles, acknowledges no king but Ferdi- 
nand VII." 

The failure of these attempts at negotiation did not however pre- 
i^ent further efforts. A deputation, consisting of a certain number 
Df inhabitants of Seville who had been induced to proceed to Cadiz, 
[eft Puerto Santa-Maria on the 21st of February. They intended 
to confer with some of the inhabitants, and to open the way to an 
igreement. Much was hoped from the influence of Spaniards 
3ver their compatriots ; but they were refused admittance into the 
town^ and, greatly to their own satisfaction I believe, the vessel 
that conveyed them returned in the course of the day without hav- 
ing been able to land its passengers. 

Thus our last hope vanished like the others. From that time 
all political communication came to an end ; and we had to make 
up our minds to a regular siege, which could not commence in 
earnest until after long and laborious preparation. The King's 
presence was quite unnecessary at Santa- Maria, he therefore re- 
solved on returning to Xeres, thence to proceed to Malaga, by 
crossing the Sierra de la Ronda, and afterwards to make the circuit 
of the rest of Andalusia, which had just submitted to his authority. 
But before leaving the neighbourhood of Cadiz, he made a short 
excursion, on which I accompanied him, to San-Lucar de Barra- 
meda. 

San-Lucar, three leagues to theN.W. of Santa- Maria, is a pretty 
town, containing 15,000 to 18,000 inhabitants. It is situated at 
the mouth of the Guadalquivir which forms a fine harbour,* and 
was formerly the residence of the Dukes of Medina-Sidonia, who 
owned a great part of the neighbouring estates and villages. It 
had formerly been the seat of a considerable trade, but since the 
great prosperity of Cadiz it had lost the privilege of direct trade 
with the Spanish Colonies, and had been restricted to traffic in 
Spanish wines, which were despatched to Cadiz, and thence dis- 
tributed throughout Europe. But the privilege of direct trading 
with America and the Indies had just been restored to San-Lucar 
by the Junta, which had been anxious to obtain the support of 
that important town. 

The climate is beautiful, and suitable to American plants, which 
are easily cultivated. I remarked a nursery ground devoted to 
their culture near the gates of the town. 

* San-Lucar was a Roman colony under the name of Fanum Luci- 
ferum. At a priest's house in Ronda I saw a coin medal of the colony 
representing a sun with rays. Lucar is evidently a corruption of luci- 
ferum. 



526 MEMOIRS OF COUNT xMIOT DE MELITO. 



On our return from this excursion, we left Santa-Maria on the? 
25th of February. We returned to Xeres for the night, and on the? 
following morning we set out for Ronda and Malaga. We were? 
accompanied by two or three thousand infantry, and a detachment! 
of cavalry. The road was impassable for artillery. On leaving' 
Xeres and advancing eastwards, we crossed vast pasture lands with 
numerous herds of cattle. Then we came into the mountains, and 1 
after our day's journey passed the night at Arcos de la Frontera. 
This is a populous town on the summit of a sort of crest overhang- 
ing the Guadaleta in the valley below. It is surrounded with a i 
forest of olive-trees, -clothing all the neighbouring heights, but its i 
curious situation makes it an inconvenient place of residence. The ;l 
King was welcomed ; a Te Deum, at which he was present, was i 
iung in the principal church in his honour. 

On the following day, the 2 7th of February, we went from Arcos 1 
to El Bosque. The country is uncultivated but pleasing. Beauti- • 
ful natural growths make up for the absence of culture. The vil- • 
lage of El Bosque is situated among very wild scenery at the foot ; 
of the high mountains that we were to cross, but a pretty little 
stream and some meadows watered by it beautify the valley. 

February 28th. From El Bosque to Ronda. — On leaving El 
Bosque we entered the mountains. The pathways become very 
rugged, and in some parts dangerous. With a few companions, 
among whom was Sefior O'Fanll, I took the shortest route, while 
the King made a circuit of two leagues to avoid the most rugged 
passes. We found ourselves in difficulties that were not readily 
overcome, but we were rewarded for our exertions by the magnifi- 
cent scfenery through which we passed. Our path led us up to the ' 
ridge of Mount San-Cristoval, the highest mountain in the chain 
known as the Sierra de Tolax. This mountain, on the coast of 
Spain, is the first European land that is sighted on coming from 
America. From the col, or puerto, through which we passed and 
which divides the waters that flow in the ocean from those of the 
Mediterranean, we descried at a distance of twelve or fifteen leagues 
the heights of Gibraltar, the Straits, and, in the background, the 
African coast. The descent commences at the col, and after a 
long and fatiguing journey, we, at last, reached Grazalema, a httle 
town in the midst of a desert. It is very populous, and contains 
several manufactories of an inferior kind of cloth which is in great 
demand. From Grazalema to Ronda the aspect of the country 
improves, but it is very little cultivated. I noticed some fine forests 
of cork-trees {Quercus suber) ; the bark is an article of commerce. i| 

The situation of Ronda, where we arrived in the afternoon, is 
most singular. The town is built on a high table-land through 
which a river runs more than two hundred feet below the soil of 



RONDA, 527 

the town, in the deep and almost inaccessible channel it has made 
for itself. Over this river, called the Guadiaro, a fine bridge con- 
necting the two sides of the town has been built. It consists of 
one great arch, supported on two immense pillars, rising from the 
bottom of the valley, and of two smaller side arches on pillars built 
on the rock. It is very handsome as a whole, and I consider it 
one of the most remarkable objects in Spain. At the time of my 
visit to Ronda it had been finished about twelve years. It is said 
to be 200 feet in height. I counted the stone blocks forming the 
pillars, as far as the surface of the water, and found that there were 
two hundred, which, allowing fifteen inches to each, would give a 
total of 2 2 5 feet. 

During our stay at Ronda, the neighbourhood was infested with 
brigands and bands of marauders, composed principally of the scat- 
tered remnant of General Arizaga's army. They even attempted 
to attack the town, but were driven back by the Grenadiers and 
Voltigeurs of the Royal Guard, and by a detachment of the 2d 
Hussars. At the same time reconnoitring parties were sent forward 
on the road to St. Roque and Gibraltar. After some unimportant 
engagements, the troops returned to the town, and there was no 
further cause for alarm. On the whole, the King was well received 
at Ronda. He there met with a descendant of Montezuma, who 
bore the name of that ancient sovereign of Mexico, and attached 
him to his service in the capacity of Majordomo. He was a hand- 
some man, very tall, with an extremely brown skin, and very pleas- 
ant manners.* 

The neighbourhood of Ronda, near the fields of Munda, where 
Caesar conquered the sons of Pompey, is remarkable for its an- 
tiquities. A grotto is shown at a short distance from the town, sup- 
posed to be that in which Sextus Pompey took refuge, and where 
he was killed by a Roman soldier. The spot goes by the name of 
Cueva de Pompeyo. There are also, at two leagues north of the 
town, some remains of an amphitheatre, and a temple dedicated 
to Mars, on the site of the ancient town of Acenipo. Coins are 
frequently discovered in the neighbourhood of Ronda. A priest of 
the town had made a rather valuable collection which he showed 
me ; it consisted principally of Phoenician coins and those of the 
Andalusian colonies. 

After a stay of three days at Ronda, we set out on the 3d of 

n^fMarch for Malaga, and passed the night at Casarabonela. We 

'marched in military fashion, fearing to be surprised by the bands 

* Charles V. gave the title of Count to the eldest son of Montezuma, 
who had become a Christian, together with a second son, and two 
daughters, who had survived the Emperor of Mexico, their father. 



528 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

who were watching us ; but we were not attacked. The roads 
between Ronda and Casarabonela are frightful. The village is sit- 
uated in the midst of barren and gloomy mountains, on the steep 
side of one of the last of the Sierra di Ronda, that we had just 
crossed. The streets are steep and rugged. A few water-falls, by 
which a great number of mills are worked, lend a little animation 
to this dreary place. 

After leaving it early the next morning we continued our descent 
by roads that cannot be called good ; but at the foot of the moun- 
tain on which Casarabonela is situated the valley begins to widen, 
and discloses the sea at' its extreme end. It opens considerably 
after this, and the aspect of the country becomes altogether differ- 
ent. Deserts and stony mountains are succeeded by cultivated 
districts and by meadow-lands green with the freshness of Spring ; 
these made us forget our toils of the preceding day. This lovely 
valley is watered by the river Guadajoz, which flows into the Med- 
iterranean at a short distance from Malaga. It can be forded at two 
leagues below Casarabolena, * and, for the four that lie between that 
plain and Malaga, it runs through fertile and well-cultivated plains. 

The King made his entry into this large town f on the 4th of 
March, and was received with a welcome far surpassing all that 
might have been expected from a submissive and devoted people. 
The streets were strewn with flowers, and hung with tapestry ; at 
the windows were elegantly-dressed women waving their handker- 
chiefs ; cries of " Viva el rey !" joyous shouts were uttered on all 
sides, and if Joseph Napoleon could ever have regarded himself as 
the real sovereign of Spain, it was certainly at that moment. A 
ball and a "bull-fight J were given in his honour ; and nothing that 
adulation could offer was omitted. 

Malaga, where we made a stay of several days, is situated at the 
end of the valley through which runs the Guadajoz. The sea is to 
the south-west, and to the west are the high mountains of the 
Sierra di Ronda, that we had just crossed. The harbour is small, 
formed artificially by a pier that juts out into the sea from west to 
east ; but the anchorage is both deep and secure, and it affords 
shelter to men-of-war, which are moored to the jetty. The town 
is well built, with straight though narrow streets ; rather an advan- 

* A fine bridge was in process of construction over the river at two 
leagues from Malaga. It is probably completed by this time. 

f It contained from sixty to seventy thousand inhabitants. 

X Curiosity induced me to witness once more this barbarous form of 
amusement that I had already seen at Santa- Maria. I could not, how- 
ever, endure it, and I left the place before the bull-fight was over. But 
it is a delight to Spaniards ; they have a passion for it, which must be 
gratified at any cost. 



ANTEQUERA. 529 

tage in so hot a climate. The Alameda, with fine houses on each 
side, and planted with orange-trees and sweet-smelling shrubs, in- 
terspersed with fountains, is used as the public promenade. The 
Cathedral is the most remarkable building ; it is of mixed Greek and 
Gothic architecture, in which an abundance of ornament is com- 
bined with elegance and lightness. The environs of Malaga are 
charming ; the land is highly cultivated and the vineyards produce 
the celebrated wine, which, together with lemons, oranges, raisins, 
and almonds, form a very considerable export trade. Sugar-cane 
is grown in the fields, especially at Velez, and in sufficient quan- 
tity to supply several sugar factories. The canes are usually sold 
in the market-places. In times of prosperity the Malaga Custom 
House yielded thirty million reals to the exchequer treasury of the 
Kings of Spain. 

We left this delightful spot for Antequera, on the 13 th of 
March. The road follows the course of the Guadajoz, ascending 
towards the source of the river. It was constructed at great cost 
through the mountains ; it spans several streams and is a triumph 
of art over nature. Olive-trees, almond-trees, and vines are 
grown on the sides of the mountains ; and in every uncultivated 
spot the ground is covered with rare and lovely plants, which fill 
the air with their sweet scents. It was early Spring, yet the heat 
was powerful enough to render our progress fatiguing. The rye 
and barley was in ear, and the almond-trees were laden with fruit. 
Antequera, which is situated at the entrance of a plain stretching 
northwards, is a well-built town of average size. It contains 
nearly five thousand ' vecinos ' or heads of families, which, multi- 
plied by four, to represent the family of which the vecino is the 
head, gives about twenty thousand inhabitants. The town is 
built on the site of the ancient Anticaria of the Romans, and was 
long in possession of the Moors. It was taken from them, in 
141 1, by the Infante Don Fernando, who subsequently ascended 
the throne of Arragon, and bore for many years in memory of this 
conquest the surname of the Infante of Antequera. 

The Castle, at the south side of the town, was originally built 
by the Moors, but little of their work remains. The mosque has 
been converted into a church under the invocation of San-Salva- 
dor. A collegiate church of fairly good modern architecture has 
been raised within the precincts of the Castle. There are several 
framed boards placed against the walls in the latter church, bear- 
ing, in large type, the names and rank of persons condemned by 
the Antequera Inquisition, with the date of the judgment against 
them. The inscription states the individuals who were really ex- 
ecuted and those who only suffered in effigy. I counted more 
than twentv of these lists. 



530 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The Castle gate is of good modern architecture, and, on the 
right of the gateway, a portion of the building is in the Italian 
style, with a pretty loggia, the whole in excellent taste. To the 
side walls of the gateway have been fixed several inscriptions that 
were found near Antequera, or on the site of the neighbouring an- 
cient towns of Singila, Nescania, Ilura and Aurica. They bear 
the names of Caligula, Vespasian, Titus, Trajan, and Adrian. A 
modern inscription gives the date, 1635, at which this collection 
of antiquities was made. 

In addition to these ancient remains, there is a grotto on the 
left side of the road to. Granada, which is known as the Cueva de 
Minga. It is said to date from the most ancient times, and is 
certainly neither of Arabian nor Roman construction. Local tra- 
dition attributes it to the Carthaginians. But on visiting this curi- 
ous edifice, I arrived at the conclusion that it had been originally 
a temple whose roof was much more lofty before the soil had risen 
by the crumbling of the walls. 

After remaining two days at Antequera we left it on the 1 5th of 
March, and passed that night at Loxa, about half-way on the road 
to Granada. We crossed the Vega d' Antequera,* a well-cultivated 
plain. At about a quarter of a league from the town we came in 
sight of a kind of ruined portico, known in the country as los 
Carniceros del Moro. f There is however nothing Moorish about 
it ; it is evidently the remains of some Roman monument. We 
next skirted a very high and very steep rock, standing solitary in 
the plain, called the Pena de los Enamorados. J; An old legend 
relates that two lovers, being pursued, cast themselves from its 
summit." There are some verses on the subject in the romance of 
(Gonzalve de Cordoue) by Florian, 

Loxa is a small town on the banks of the Genii, built partly in 
a semicircle on the left bank of the river, and partly on a plain on 
the right bank. The two parts of the town are united by a very 
fine bridge. In the middle there is an inscription stating that it 
was begun in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1 505, and 
finished under Charles V. in 1522. The territory of Loxa is fer- 
tile, but very circumscribed. Almost immediately on leaving the 
town, on our way to Granada, we found ourselves among barren 
moorlands until we reached Lecher, where our road lay by the 
banks of the Genii, and the scenery improves. At two leagues 
distance from Granada, we came to" Santa Fe, a town founded by 



* The name of Vega is given to cultivated plains in the vicinity of the 
large Spanish towns. 

f The Moors' slaughter houses. 
X The Lovers' Rock. 



GRANADA. 531 



Ferdinand the Great, to compete with Granada. But in spite of all 
the King's endeavours to draw thither the population of the older 
town, Santa Fe has always held a very inferior rank. 

We made our entry into Granada on the i6th of March, at 2 
P.M. The weather was magnificent, and the whole population 
turned out to meet the King and gave him as warm a welcome as 
that which he had received at Malaga. 

Granada is on the right bank of the north of the Genii. The 
Darro, a mountain torrent, traverses the town and passing through 
Plaza-Nueva, partly underground, and partly above, flows into the 
Genii at the southern side of the town. Granada is commanded 
on the east and north by high mountains, forming part of the 
Sierra Nevada, the loftiest range in Spain, and so called because it 
is never altogether free from snow. The last hills of the chain 
are contiguous to the town, of which the most ancient part, the 
Albayzin, is built on the hill itself. The Alhambra, the Generalife, 
the palace and gardens of the Moors, and a few fortresses, are sit- 
uated on its steepest side on the left bank of the Darro, which 
runs at its foot. 

From this sketch of the situation of the town, it will be easily 
understood to be most picturesque, and that the air must be keen 
and the temperature cool in summer. Yet, notwithstanding these 
advantages, the abundance of water and the beautiful promenades, 
Granada, on the whole, is gloomy : the streets are narrow, the 
houses of poor appearance, and, with the exception of the cathedral 
and the Alhambra, few of the public buildings call for remark. 
In short, I was disappointed in this celebrated town. 

Granada contains 14,000 vecinos, or about 56,000 inhabitants, 
besides monks and priests in considerable number, who bring up 
the population to 60,000 souls. 

I shall now make a few remarks on the objects of art which 
alone can be of any interest to the reader. 

The cathedral of Granada is extremely beautiful. Enormous 
pillars, consisting of four columns of Corinthian architecture, rest- 
ing on very high pedestals, support the roof. These pillars, in 
parallel lines, form five naves ; the largest and central one contain- 
ing the choir and the high altar. This is placed in a sort of 
round point detached from the general design, and is formed by 
arched domes of extreme lightness, which are carried up to the 
roof. The effect is admirable. On the whole the interior is pic- 
turesque, although the architectural details are bad. 

Malaga Cathedral, of which I have already spoken, was copied 
from that of Granada ; but its pillars, and especially the clerestory 
above them, are of much greater height, thus giving more boldness 
and lightness to the building. In size and majesty, however, it is 



532 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

surpassed by its original. * Both these churches are the work of 
one architect, Siloe, who lived in the reign of Charles V., and was 
the precursor of the Herreras and the other. architects of the Escu- 
rial. A magnificent chapel, contiguous to the cathedral, and 
called the Chapel Royal, contains the tombs of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, and of Philip the Fair and Juana (called la Loca, or the 
Fool), the daughter of Ferdinand, and mother of Charles V. Both 
monuments were raised by Charles V. They are in white marble, 
and were executed by Torregiano, and various other Italian artists 
at Genoa, whence they were conveyed to Spain. The work is, in 
general, good ; the decoration is rich, and the statues are in good 
taste. There is, however, no allegory in the composition. The 
tombs stand on a large pedestal and bear the recumbent figures of 
the princes whose remains they enclose. At each side of the prin- 
cipal altar in the chapel are the kneeling, praying figures of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, carved in wood. Above each is a kind of ban- 
ner. That of Ferdinand bears the representation of a yoke for 
oxen with its traces. Isabella's represents a sheaf of eleven arrows, 
six crossed by five, and tied together in the middle by a knot. 
Both banners have the same motto : Tmito monta. These two em- 
blems formed the seal of the king and queen, and the motto com- 
mon to both, Tanto monta, signified that one was of as much worth 
as the other. Bas-reliefs in wood ornament the sides of the altar. 
They represent the principal events of the reign of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, especially those relating to the conquest of Granada in 
1492. Among these are the handing over of the keys of the town, 
the baptism of the converted Moors, etc. In the bas-relief, repre- 
senting the handing over the keys, Isabella is depicted on horse- 
back, by the side of Ferdinand, and likewise Cardinal Don Gonzales 
de Mendoza. 

The chapel is interesting and recalls memorable events. It is 
divided from the cathedral by a handsome iron railing, remarkable 
for the fine execution of the figures and ornaments forming part 
of its design. The artist's name. Master Bartolome, is inscribed 
on one of the centre pillars. On the doors of two splendid 
reliquaries are four beautiful paintings by Albert Diirer. The 
reliquaries, which are of very fine workmanship, are secured by 
three locks ; the key of one is in the custody of the Dean ; the 
second key is held by the Archbishop, and the third by the Gov- 
ernor of the Alhambra. Their doors are never opened, except on 
great occasions. King Joseph's visit was one, of course. 

The Palace .and stronghold of the Moorish kings of Granada is 

* Both cathedrals are amplified copies of that at Jaen, which is the 
real original. 



THE ALHAMBRA. 533 



called the Alhambra. * It stands on a hill to the east of the town 
and within a walled-enclosure of immense size. We first came, at 
the foot of the hill, to a gate built by Charles V. , and, after cross- 
ing a pleasant wood with splashing fountains, we entered the orig- 
inal enclosure, through a gate of Moorish architecture. On reach- 
ing the esplanade the palace commenced by Charles V. is the first 
striking object. The only portion that has been completed is in 
perfect taste, and of great beauty. There is a very remarkable cir- 
cular court, formed by two rows of pillars, one above the other, 
the first of the Doric, and the second of the Ionic order. It is one 
of the finest achievements of modern architecture now existing in 
Europe. The external fayade is simple and majestic. The base- 
ment and spaces between the pillars are carved in bas-relief. The 
whole is of Spanish marbles. It is said that when Charles V. un- 
dertook to erect this splendid pile, from designs of Italian masters, 
he intended it to surpass all the Moorish buildings in the surround- 
ing country, and he would no doubt have succeeded had he had 
time to complete it. f 

To the left of the modern palace is the Moorish palace of the 
Alhambra. This is the most important relic of the rule of the 
Moors in Spain now remaining. The Alhambra was the seat 
of the power, of the love intrigues, and of the splendour of the 
kings of Granada. In every part of it are traces of the peculiar 
tastes and of the grandeur of the Moorish nation, at a period 
when the rest of Europe was still sunk in ignorance and barbar- 
ism. 



* This is an Arab word signifying red or coloured, either from the red 
colour of the soil of the country, or that the palace was built or inhabited 
by a Moorish king surnamed Rufus, or red-haired. 

f Opposite the palace of Charles V. are the prisons. I visited that 
one in which the unfortunate General Franceschi had been confined. He 
had been taken prisoner, the year preceding, by a guerilla band. During 
his captivity he had drawn the story of his capture on the prison walls. 
The style was grand as well as correct, and the pictures very spirited. 
They were well worthy of preservation. Marshal Soult had given orders 
to have them copied, and intended to have them engraved. I do not 
know whether his intentions were carried out. If he relinquished them 
be deprived the world of a wonderful proof of the philosophy as well as 
of the talent of one of the most distinguished and most lamented officers 
of our army. 

When the French troops, under Sebastiani, entered Granada, Frances- 
chi was removed to Malaga, whence he was put on board ship for Min- 
orca ; but he died during the crossing. His wife was a daughter of Gen- 
eral Mathieu Dumas. She displayed greatness of soul as well as conju- 
gal devotion, by the efforts she made to obtain her husband's release 
from prison. Her exertions were unfortunately fruitless. Madame 
Franceschi survived only a short time the husband whom her heroic de- 
votion had failed to save. 



534 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The most, remarkable and the best preserved portions of this 
palace are as follows : 

The entrance court with its two porticoes and a great basin of 
running water in the centre. 

The principal apartment, called the Hall of the Ambassadors, 
opens on the court. It is square, with a vaulted roof and is dec- 
orated with arabesques, mottoes and Arabic inscriptions in stucco. 

The Court of Lions, so called from the fountain in the centre 
with a basin supported by eight lions, is oblong, and surrounded 
by porticoes supported by numerous pillars, with a projecting 
peristyle at either end. The effect, to our unaccustomed eyes, 
was novel and quaint. 

Three apartments communicate with the Court of Lions. One, 
on the west side, is called La Sala de las Dos Hermanas, the Hall 
of the Two Sisters. The name is derived from two very large 
pieces of marble, which were sawn from one block, and form part 
of the pavement. The walls are elegantly decorated, like the rest 
of the building, with arabesques, and other designs in stucco. 

The second apartment, to the east of the Court and containing a 
fountain in the centre, is known as the Hall of the Abencerrages. 
It is alleged that thirty-six knights of the family of the Abencerrages 
were decapitated in this hall, on the false testimony of their rivals 
the Zegris, who accused one of the knights of a love intrigue with 
the Sultana, and the others of conspiring against the life of Boab- 
dil, the child-king of Granada. The novel or romance of Les 
Giierres civiles de Grenade was founded on this anecdote, true or 
false. Some red stains on the marble basin of the fountain were 
pointed 'out to me as being the blood of the Abencerrages. This 
miracle is attributed to their having professed themselves Christians 
at the moment of death. 

Lastly, the third apartment on the north side of the court is 
called the Hall of the Tribunal. It is noticeable chiefly for the 
somewhat rough paintings on the vaulted roof which were thought 
to be of Arabic origin ; but they are probably the work of a slave 
who obtained permission to decorate the arches, at the period when 
the art of painting was beginning to revive in Europe. 

The Baths, and the Tocador, or dressing-room of the Sultana, 
are also worth visiting. The latter apartment, which is a very 
pretty room, surrounded with porticoes, is built on one of the steep- 
est parts of the hill, and commands a delightful view of the town 
and the beautiful country around. It was restored and modernized 
in the time of Charles V. , and decorated with fresco paintings of 
great beauty. These have been attributed to Titian, and are not 
unworthy of his brush. But they are in fact the work of Julian 
and Alexander, pupils of Juan of Udine. When I saw them they 



._ ^ JAEN. S3S 

were unfortunately much torn and defaced, through the careless- 
ness of the guardians of the place. 

I must say a few words on another Moorish building, the Gen- 
eralife,* situated on the hill called the Silla del Moro, or the 
Moor's saddle. f It is divided from the Alhambra by a deep 
ravine, and was a country retreat belonging to the Moorish kings 
of Granada. It contains several halls and galleries in the Arabian 
style, similar to that of the Alhambra. Pleasant, though small 
gardens, and beautiful fountains make it a delightful dwelling- 
place. At the time of my visit it was the property of the Marquis 
de Teja, to whose ancestors it had been a gift from the Most 
Catholic King. 

On leaving the Generalife I extended my walk to the summit of 
Silla del Moro. From this spot there is a splendid view of 
Granada, of the fertile Vega surrounding the town, and of the 
neighbouring mountains. It is the best point from which to 
judge of and to admire the country. 

After spending a fortnight at Granada, we left it on the 30th of 
March, for Jaen. Our way at first lay through lovely scenery, 
part of the fertile country called the Soto de Roma. The fields 
are irrigated by canals. The course of the Genii, marked by trees 
and an advanced state of cultivation, presents an aspect of universal 
abundance and fertility. But these delightful scenes, framed as 
they are by the Sierra Nevada on the horizon, are of no great ex- 
tent. On reaching Pino-Fuente, we found ourselves again among 
the mountains. Barren and desolate slopes succeed to the beauti- 
ful scenery which seems to vanish from the gaze of the traveller. 
The country improves a little as one approaches Jaen, which we 
reached on the ist of April. We had passed the night of the 30th 
of March at Alcala la Real, and the succeeding night at Martos, 
two unimportant little towns. 

Jaen stands at the foot of a mountain, on whose summit a 
fortress built by the Moors is still in existence. 

The environs of the town have nothing to recommend them, its 
streets are narrow and its houses badly built. The cathedral only 
is worthy of attention. It is more ancient than those of Granada 
and Malaga, for both of which it served as a model, and the model 
is superior to the copies, for, in the endeavour to surpass the orig- 
inal in lightness and in size, the simple majesty of Jaen has been 
lost. The name of the builder is unknown. It is only known 
that the work, begun by him in 1492, was carrieci, on, according 
to his designs, after his death, by Castillo do Valdeverra. 

* From the Arabic word genet, garden. 

f Although the Alhambra and the Generalife are built on hills, they 
receive an abundant supply of water from the Sierra Nevada. 



536 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

At Jaen we brought our excursion in Andalusia ,to conclusion. 
It had lasted over a month. We returned 'to Andujar on the 3d 
of April, still undecided whether we should .proceed to Madrid or 
return to Seville. I must explain the reasons of our uncertainty 
and those of our subsequent decision. I will also explain the polit- 
ical position on our return from Andalusia. During our journey- 
ings, it had become greatly altered ; but I have not entered on the 
subject as yet, so as not to interrupt the course of my narrative. 
Full particulars will be found in the ensuing chapter. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

News from Paris concerning the Emperor's intentions with regard to 
Spain disperse the delusions respecting the King's position, to which 
his journey through Andalusia had given rise — An Imperial Decree of 
February 8, 1810, precedes the dismemberment of Spain by Napo- 
leon — The Author vainly endeavours to persuade Joseph to relinquish 
the throne of Spain — On the occasion of the Emperor's marriage with 
Marie Louise, the King sends the Duke of Santa-Fe to Paris, and di- 
rects him at the same time to negotiate the revocation of the decree of 
February 8 — Having arrived at Andujar, the King, acting on the ad- 
vice of Marshal Soult, decides on returning to Seville — He is coldly re- 
ceived—Death of M. de Cabarrus, Minister of Finance — The King 
returns to Madrid — The Duke of Santa-Fe fails in his negotiation — The 
King tries in vain to oppose the severe measures of the Emperor — 
Ferdinand VH., banished to Valensay, asks for the hand of a niece of 
the Emperor — Napoleon is not unwilling, but the young lady refuses 
her consent — The King despatches the Marquis d'Almenara with a 
kind of ultimatum to his brother — Constant encroachments of the 
French Generals on the authority of the King — The Emperor demands 
the cession of the Spanish provinces on the left bank of the Ebro, in 
exchange for Portugal — The King declines the proposition — The King 
journeys to Guadalaxara — Alcala de Henarez — On returning to Madrid 
the King despatches M. Clary to Paris bearing a letter to Queen Julia, 
in which he requests her to inform the Emperor that he intends to 
leave Spain, unless his position there be altered — Massena's expedition 
to Portugal — Battle of Busaco — Retreat of the English to the unassail- 
able passes of the Torres-Vedras — Wretched condition of the French 
army in Portugal — Santa-Fe and Almenara return to Madrid — Proposi- 
tions of the Emperor made through the Marquis d'Almenara — They 
are debated in a private council, found to be impossible of execution, 
and rejected — The Author again endeavours to induce the King to leave 
Spain, or to repair to Paris to treat personally with the Emperor ; the 
King cannot make up his mind to this and continues to temporize. 

While the King was receiving the homage of the Andalusian 
people, while Malaga, Granada, and Jaen were vying in their hom- 
age, and offering all kinds of fetes in his honour, and that he, de- 
ceived by these flattering symptoms, was gladly delaying his prog- 
ress, and seemed rather a beloved sovereign visiting his provinces 
than a conqueror at the head of a foreign army, accounts coming 
from Paris were far from favourable to the hopes which the events 
happening in his immediate presence seemed to justify. He was 
informed that even were the people of Spain sincerely disposed to 
acknowledge him as their king, the Emperor would never consent 



538 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to his retaining the rights and independence implied by that title. 
In truth, how could the King expect to retain the undivided sway 
of the vast kingdom of Spain, when he wbo alone could lend the 
strength necessary to hold it was not inclined to bestow it on him ? 
The arguments used by Joseph to draw the Spanish to him were 
principally these: ** That they should distrust the English, who 
under a feint of helping them, concealed their design of seizing on 
their trade and their colonies ; while, on the contrary, they had 
nothing to fear from the French, who were as much interested as 
themselves in their prosperity, and who would attempt nothing 
against their independence, against the integrity of their territory in 
Europe, or their possessions in both the Indies. ' ' This was the 
habitual text of his long speeches to the deputations and to the 
various authorities of the country. While he had been exhausting 
himself in convincing the people of these things, the Emperor with 
one word had destroyed the result of his labours. 

As we have previously seen, the Emperor had neither given nor 
withheld his approval of the Andalusian expedition. But when 
he was assured of its success, he endeavoured to utilize it for the 
accomplishment of his own personal designs, which were entirely 
opposed to those of his brother. The latter wished to make a 
purely moral conquest, and affected to regard the Spanish people 
as erring subjects who had now returned to their allegiance. The 
Emperor, on the contrary, looked on them only as a conquered 
people whom he might dispose of as he chose. Joseph intended 
to apply the wealth of the Andalusian provinces to the establish- 
ment and maintenance of his government : Napoleon wanted it for 
the pay and the enriching of his own troops ; at most he consented 
to hand over the surplus to the King. But what surplus -could 
there be ? The needs of the soldiers, and the greed of their chiefs, 
were alike boundless. 

Thus, at the very moment when Joseph was lavishing assurances 
and promises, and everywhere extolling the thorough disinterested- 
ness of France, severe and crushing exactions were being laid on 
the provinces in our occupation. An iron hand was grinding them 
to the dust. The King's tone of regal independence, in his proc- 
lamation to the French soldiers, from Seville, had displeased the 
Emperor, who had allowed it to be published with restrictions, by 
which his sentiments on the subject might easily be estimated. In 
the copy published in the * Moniteur, ' every allusion to the victories 
gained under the King's rule in Spain is omitted. The confident 
words uttered in the flush of success, ' * / ska// reign over Spain, ' ' 
have disappeared. The word ' conquest,' that had been so care- 
fully suppressed, is restored. In the, emphatic sentence where a 
third column is spoken of as an addition to the pillars of Hercules, 



THE emperor's CONDUCT. 539 

there is no mention of Spaniards being saved, of natural allies 
being recovered, but only of Spain being conquered : and the im- 
aginary pillar that was to be a monument of peace and unity, is 
converted into a trophy of victory over a fallen enemy. 

This attack on the King's conduct, and the principles by which 
he had guided it, would alone have been sufficient to denote the 
intentions of the Emperor ; but he declared them still more clearly 
by another and more momentous act. So soon as he was informed 
of the passage of the Sierra- Morena, he suddenly changed the 
form of administration in Spain. From the time of the Stipula- 
tions of Bayonne in 1808 the King's authority was supposed to 
extend, both civilly and judicially, over all the provinces in the 
occupation of the French. There was no political division made 
in the Monarchy ; France acknowledged, or appeared to acknowl- 
edge, in the Sovereign she had placed on the throne, the same 
powers that had been exercised by his predecessor. 

A decree of the 8th of February, 18 10, completely altered that 
system, and the Emperor openly took his share in the conquest of 
Spain, which he then looked upon as complete. The decree was 
based on the excessive cost of the army in Spain, impoverishing 
to the French treasury, which received nothing from the revenues 
of the country, and it commanded the formation of four large 
governments — Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre and Biscay — placing 
French generals at their head with full civil and military authority. 
This was, in fact, to bring the provinces in question, which are 
all, so to speak, bounded by the Ebro, under the rule of France, 
and to effect a practical dismemberment of Spain, until a Senatus- 
Consultum should declare its union with the Empire. 

The King received this decree at Ronda, and communicated it 
to me during our sojourn at Malaga. I perceived how deadly was 
the blow which it inflicted on him. If among the Spaniards there 
were any who had joined his cause in good faith, it would become 
impossible for them to adhere to it without openly betraying their 
country. The semblance of independence, of integrity to Spanish 
territory, that had so often been put forward as a justification for 
the change of dynasty, was vanishing. The King was powerless 
to resist this open violation of the promises which had been made 
to him, and of the pledges which he was daily giving, and in my 
opinion he had no other means of clearing himself from the accu- 
sation of consenting to it but that of laying down the crown. He 
could not continue to wear it, without admitting his participation 
in the Emperor's views. To remain on the throne was to declare 
that he was conniving at the dismemberment of the Monarchy, 
and would be satisfied with what was left, so that he might retain 
the title of king. 



540 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

In a conversation with him on this subject, at Malaga, I 
candidly gave him my opinion. "This is the only course you 
can adopt, ' ' I said, ' ' and you should take it at once. It affords 
an honourable retreat from a country to which your presence 
seems to have brought nothing but misfortune. Profit by this 
opportunity of separating your cause in the sight of Europe from 
that of the real author of these calamities. Fortune herself seems 
to have contrived this happy issue for you. Your brilliant cam- 
paign, your warm reception in Andalusia, your humane and un- 
assuming behaviour — all these things contribute to lend an hon- 
ourable and reasonable aspect to your withdrawal from Spain, and 
your departure will be witnessed perhaps with regret, but at least 
with sincere wishes for your welfare. ' ' 

My endeavours failed. The Emperor's recent marriage with 
the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria gave the King an oppor- 
tunity of despatching an Ambassador Extraordinary to Paris, and 
in the hope of obtaining a revocation of the decree, he delayed 
taking any decisive resolution. Therefore he carefully concealed 
the information he had received, and we continued to be warmly 
welcomed by the crowds, who pressed eagerly about us in every town. 

Such was the state of our relations with France, when, as 1 have 
related in the last chapter, we reached Andujar on the 3d of 
April, 1 8 10. We remained there for three days. It was there 
that the King fixed on M. d'Asanza, the Minister of the Indies, as 
his Ambassador to Paris. He created him at the same time Duke 
of Santa-Fe and Knight of the Golden Fleece. The negotiation 
that was entrusted to him, in addition to the congratulations on the 
marriage of the Emperor that he was to convey, could not have 
been placed in the hands of a more upright man, or one more 
capable of stating the truth ; but success in it was beyond his 
power and beyond the power of any man. The decision just 
taken by the Emperor was part of a well-matured purpose that 
nothing could shake. The candour and uprightness of the nego- 
tiator, who made known at Paris the contents of a memorandum 
that had been written without reserve, and intended only for in- 
structions to himself, was in fact injurious to the cause he came to 
plead ; at any rate it was used as a pretext for refusing all conces- 
sions. * 

After despatching the Duke of Santa-Fe to Paris, the King was 

* The memorandum had been drawn up by M. d'Urquijo. I have read 
it, and the style certainly was both improper and offensive to France. 
The Duke of Cadore, Minister of Exterior Relations, returned it with 
the note that accompanied it, to the Duke of Santa-Fe, saying, that such 
a production could not be suffered to remain in the archives of the de- 
.partment. 



MARSHAL SOULT'S GAME. 54I 

doubtful whether to proceed to Madrid, on leaving Andujar, or to 
return to Seville. He was rather in favour of the former alterna- 
tive, but on representations made to him by Marshal Soult, he 
determined on the latter. He was assured that his presence at 
Seville would hasten the surrender of Cadiz ; that, although all 
negotiations had hitherto been rejected by the Junta, some fortu- 
nate circumstances might occur which would induce the Junta to 
entertain them, and that, in such a case, to have to send to Ma- 
drid for final approval would jeopardise a successful issue. On the 
other hand, Andalusia possessed far greater resources for replen- 
ishing the treasury than the exhausted provinces of the centre. 
Those of the north could no longer be reckoned on, since the Em- 
peror had just claimed exclusive dominion over them. Such 
arguments as these, plausibly set forth, convinced the King. He 
took the Marshal's advice, gave commands to Count Cabarrus, his 
Minister of Finance, to join him at Seville, and set out himself for 
that city on the nth of April. But the motives put forward by 
the Marshal, although real up to a certain point, were not the only 
ones on which he acted. If the King proceeded to Madrid from 
Andujar, Marshal Soult as Major-General must accompany him 
thither. Such a post suited him no longer. His secret ambition 
was to establish himself in Andalusia, in command of the army 
that must remain in order to hold possession of that valuable con- 
quest. Meanwhile a certain period of time was necessary to obtain 
the King's acquiescence in the project, and at Seville only could 
he be brought to sanction it. Such a post, doubtless, could not 
be conferred on an abler soldier, nor on one better fitted to fill it ; 
but at the same time it would render him more independent and 
powerful than the King himself. Subsequent events proved that 
Joseph could not have selected a less submissive lieutenant, nor 
have provided a rival with more formidable resources. We trav- 
elled slowly back to Seville, whither the King arrived on the nth 
of April. He was somewhat coldly received. The defence of 
Cadiz, and the rumours of the Emperor's designs on Spain, had 
opened the eyes of the people, and it was all in vain that to please 
them the King was present, during Easter-tide, at all the striking 
and theatrical religious ceremonies of that period. He was none 
the more warmly received, and meanwhile he was more than ever 
occupied with the cares of government. He held frequent coun- 
cils, to which I was generally summoned. I was even command- 
ed to draw up a project for the division of Spain into departments, 
and for regulating the interior administration as in France. This 
project, which comprised the provinces forming the four great gov- 
ernments that the Emperor had reserved to himself, was passed and 
published as a kind of protest against that usurpation. 



542 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

On M. Cabarrus' arrival various questions of finance were brought 
forward. But scarcely had we begun to debate them, than he 
fell ill, and died in less than five days. His death occurred on 
the 27th of April. He was buried with public honours in Seville 
Cathedral. 

M. de Cabarrus was of French origin. He was created Count 
by Charles HI. He had great talents, great aptitude for business, 
and was an indefatigable worker ; but he was said to be deficient 
in judgment, and in the necessary strength of character for manag- 
ing affairs in cases of difficulty. He thoroughly understood the 
finances of Spain, and would probably have administered them 
with ability under the former Monarchy, but he was quite incapa- 
ble of doing so in the confusion that followed on the conquest. 
He could never have released himself from the trammels of the 
routine in which he had been brought up, and he had neither 
studied nor appreciated the French system, which w^ould neces- 
sarily be introduced into Spain. It is principally to this defect 
that we must attribute the errors into which he fell after joining 
the Ministry. Had his death occurred a couple of years earlier, 
it would have been considered as a very serious loss, because he 
was the only man of financial repute who had attached himself to 
the cause of Joseph, and had adhered to it. But when it occurred 
it produced no sensation. Placed in a post unsuited to him, M. 
de Cabarrus had lost the prestige of his former reputation, and had 
not acquired any other. He owed his first distinction in Spain to 
many natural gifts and to most agreeable manners. In his off- 
handed treatment of business, and especially in his desire of 
pleasing all those in authority, he much resembled M. de 
Calonne.* After the death of M. de Cabarrus, the King remained 
but a short time at Seville. The siege of Cadiz was making no 
progress ; the financial measures had been adjourned ; there was 
no longer any reason for detaining the government in Andalusia, 
and Marshal Soult, on whom the command of the army had de- 
volved, was as impatient to see us depart from Seville as he had 
been to bring us thither. We therefore set out for Madrid on the 
2d of May. 

We travelled along the same roads, or nearly so, that had 
brought us into Andalusia. We did not, however, pass through 
Toledo, and this deviation caused us to traverse part of La Mancha, 
and especially Puerto-Lapiche, the scene of the exploits of Don 
Quixote. It was in this spot that Cervantes' hero received knight- 

* M. de Cabarrus was the father of the celebrated Th6rese Cabarrus, 
wife of Tallien, and afterwards Princesse de Chimay. At the time of his 
death he was in his sixty-seventh year. 



THE NEW DECREES. 543 

hood. Shortly before our arrival, the hostelry depicted by the 
author as the scene of the ceremony, was still standing, and on the 
door was an inscription recalling the supposed incident. Both 
hostelry and inscription had disappeared during the war, and 
Puerto-Lapiche was at that time a mere heap of ruins. 

The King reached Madrid on the 14th of May, and returned 
from the expedition, which had begun so well, with a melancholy 
conviction that he would always find his brother's will an invinci- 
ble obstacle to the accomplishment of his designs. Far from 
yielding to the representations made to him by the Duke of Santa- 
Fe, the Emperor increased the severity of the measures which by 
the decree of the 8th of February, 18 10, he had already taken 
in Spain. By a second decree he added two new governments, 
Burgos and Valladolid, to the four he had at first named. And in 
like manner as he had dealt with Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, and 
Biscay, he appointed intendants and receivers-general of finance, so 
that every vestige of the former government was swept away. 

At the same time, the Emperor decreed a new organisation of 
the French forces in Spain. Hitherto the nine army corps,* sta- 
tioned in different provinces, had all formed part of one single 
army, of which the King, as Lieutenant-General of the Emperor, 
was, at any rate nominally, the Commander-in-Chief. Thence- 
forth each province was to have its separate army, under the com- 
mand of a general, absolute in military authority, subject only to 
Major-General the Prince of Neufchatel, and also possessing the 
civil authority in those provinces that had been organised as gov- 
ernments. 

From that period six armies, completely independent of each 
other, were established in the Peninsula, viz. : 

The Army of Catalonia (the 7th corps). 

The Army of Aragon (3d corps. They had taken Saragossa). 
The Army of the South (ist, 4th, and 5th corps). 
The Armies of the North and of Portugal (2d, 6th, 8th, and 
9th corps). 

The Army of the Centre. 

The latter was the least numerous ; it consisted of the Reserve, 
the Royal Guard, and a few battalions of the depot, and remained 
under the immediate command of the King. Thus Joseph was in 
reality reduced to the position of Commandant of one army, and 

* Besides the eight army corps that had long been stationed in Spain, 
a ninth had been formed at the beginning of 18 10, under the command of 
General Drouet. 



544 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

his autliority did not extend beyond the provinces occupied by the 
Army of the Centre. Like all the other Commanders, his first 
duty was to support his troops out of the revenues of his provinces, 
and he could only apply the surplus to the heeds of his govern- 
ment. Even Andalusia, where he had believed himself to be more 
really a King than elsewhere, was passing into the hands of 
Marshal Soult, who, as the head of the Army of the South, was 
the true sovereign of that beautiful and wealthy province. On his 
return to Madrid, as I have said, the King felt that the expedition 
to Andalusia, which had opened so auspiciously, had brought to 
him the grievous conviction that he was but a puppet in the hands 
of his brother, and that h^ would never be permitted to fulfil the 
engagements he had publicly made. 

Yet he did not endure these encroachments on his authority 
without some attempts at resistance. He even tried to brave the 
Emperor by passing some decrees in which he expressed himself 
more strongly than he had ever before expressed himself as a King 
and independent Sovereign. I have already spoken of his Seville 
Decree, regulating the division of the Spanish territory, and the 
interior administration of the country, without excepting those 
provinces which the Emperor had just erected into governments. 
On his return to Madrid, he organised several Spanish regiments 
and a civic guard for the capital, with the intention of dispensing 
with the French garrison.* But these efforts did not and could 
not succeed. Power was in the hands of the French generals, who 
took their orders from the Emperor only, and the King's decrees 
received no more consideration in Catalonia and Aragon than they 
would have received in Galicia, or the Asturias, where we had no 
troops. Nor did the creation of a civic guard at Madrid prevent 
the French, who held the fortress of the Retiro, from ruling over 
the town also. 

These various measures, as might be expected, only increased 
the Emperor's resentment against his brother. An officer of the 
staff of Major-General the Prince of Neufchatel, who brought to 
the King a duplicate decree for the institution of the new govern- 
ments of Burgos and Valladolid, handed him at the same time a 
letter from the Prince, in which he was informed that the Emperor 
formally disapproved the King's orders for the armament of the 
Spaniards, and which modified several military regulations, all of 
which tended to remove the army beyond the influence of the 
King. 

* At this period also, in order to please the people of Madrid, the 
Government gave permission for bull-fights, which had been forbidden 
under Charles IV. 



LUCIEN BONAPARTE. 545 

That, although the Emperor had quite resolved on retaining 
part of Spain under his direct rule, he had not at that period made 
up his mind as to the means of carrying this out, a curious circum- 
stance which came to my knowledge proves. Ferdinand VII. , 
who had been sent off to Valen9ay, had asked the Emperor for 
one of his kinswomen in marriage. At the time of this demand, 
Lucien Bonaparte's two daughters were in Paris, their father hav- 
ing consented to their residence there, and the Emperor had prom- 
ised to dispose of them in marriage. He offered Prince Ferdi- 
nand as a husband "to the eldest, and on her consent, would have' 
adopted the Spanish Prince as a son. The young girl refused, 
and declared she would * ' never give her hand to a parricide. ' ' 
' ' In that case, ' ' she was told, ' ' you have no other alternative than 
to go to America. ' ' 

" So be it !" she replied, " I will go to America." On this all 
negotiations were broken off, and shortly afterwards, in August, 
1810, Lucien Bonaparte and his family sailed for the United 
States. * On the refusal of his niece, the Emperor endeavoured to 
arrange a marriage between Ferdinand and a princess of the 
House of Austria, but this project also failed. The two attempts 
prove that the Emperor was not averse to the idea of replacing 
Ferdinand on the throne, on condition of obtaining, as the price 
of his restoration, all that part of Spain which was suited to France, 
and which was already, as it were, indicated by the six govern- 
ments he had just established. This would have been a speedy 
method of bringing the war to a conclusion, and he counted on 
more deference from Ferdinand than he met with from his brother, 
who daily declared himself more strongly against dismemberment, 
and was resolved never to agree to any arrangement of the kind. 
The abdication of the King of Holland, who, weary of his 
brother's yoke, had voluntarily given up his throne, made Napo- 
leon fear that the King of Spain might follow his example, and he 
wished either to be beforehand with him, or if this could not be, 
to be ready at any rate to take advantage of the occurrence. 

Owing to all these causes, the King's position was becoming 
more and more unbearable, and he resolved on despatching the 
Marquis of Almenara, father-in-law of Marshal Duroc, to the 
Emperor, trusting that his envoy's relationship to a man who en- 
joyed the Emperor's confidence might tend to the success of the 
negotiation. The Marquis was the bearer of a despatch, which 
was shown me, containing a kind of ultimatum. The King set 
forth the absolute impossibility of his continuing to reign, in the 

* On the voyage Lucien was taken prisoner by the English, and con- 
veyed to England. 



54^ MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

position forced on him by the various measures taken by the Em- 
peror with regard to the greater number of the Spanish provinces. 
He demanded the revocation of those i;neasures, and that the 
authority over the French generals originally conferred on him 
should be restored. He declared, in conclusion, that if his de- 
mands were rejected, he would relinquish the crown,' and leave 
the country. 

The language of this letter was noble and temperate ; it bore 
the impress of truth. I appreciated it fully, yet I had not the least 
hope of success. * ' If the Emperor had been willing to speak, ' ' 
I said to the King, ' ' he would have spoken long ago. The Duke 
of Santa-Fe has been four months in Paris. The Emperor knows 
him, and in fact treats him with a certain consideration, and yet 
has refused to listen to him. He is clearly resolved on declining 
any explanation with a third person. The only way of obtaining 
one is by going to him yourself. Sooner or later you will be 
forced to do this, and the longer you put it off, the greater will be 
your own reluctance, and the greater the difficulties you will have 
to overcome." 

Notwithstanding these arguments, M. d'Almenara was de- 
spatched, and the King persuaded himself that his envoy's ability, 
and the influence of his son-in-law, would bring about some fortu- 
nate issue. In any event, time was gained ; and the King's 
strongest desire was to put off the decisive moment. 

Meanwhile, Joseph felt his position growing more untenable 
every day. The disordered state of affairs, the discontent and 
complaints of the Government employes, who were not paid their 
salaries, the ruinous expedients to which we were driven in order 
to procure money, the requisitions, and forced loans, made regular 
administration impossible, and threw everything into confusion. 
There was every sign of the decadence of a government, which, 
rejected both by the French and the immense majority of the 
Spaniards, was an object of ridicule to the former and dislike to 
the latter. 

Every day also the power of the French generals increased, and 
their independent attitude became more marked. An aide-de- 
camp of the Prince de Neufchatel, who was bearing to Marshal 
Soult the decree appointing him to the command of the army of 
the South, had, indeed, on his way through Madrid, handed the 
King a letter from the Prince, in which, after informing him of 
this new arrangement, he went on to assure him that it would only 
be in force during the absence of the King, and that whenever he 
was present with an army corps, the command would revert to 
him. But as such an occasion might .never happen, since the 
King could not leave his capital without serious inconvenience, this 



A TERRIBLE POSITION. 54/ 

modification of the principle on which the Emperor was acting was 
rather apparent than real, and the blow struck at the King's 
authority was none the less deadly. 

Joseph's anger at this new affront was perceptible (notwithstand- 
ing all his efforts to restrain it) in his speeches ; and on the Em- 
peror's fete-day, which was publicly celebrated on the 15th of 
August, 1 8 10, he addressed the various authorities and the crowds 
assembled at the palace, and spoke with extreme heat of the state 
of affairs in Spain, and of the alarming reports which represented 
him as being on terms of open hostility with the Emperor, and on 
the point of making some desperate resolve. He endeavoured to 
remove this impression ; but he was unable to hide his annoyance 
with the French administrators and generals, and above all with 
the financial agents, and the various sentiments by which he was 
agitated rose constantly to the surface. " I love France," he ex- 
claimed, " as I love my family, and Spain as my religion : my 
heart draws me to the one, and my conscience to the other. ' ' 

Although this public profession of faith was hardly politic, and 
was calculated rather to alarm than to reassure his few remaining 
partisans, it was nevertheless impossible to blame the King for 
vehemence which was justified by a situation more than ever terri- 
ble. All the government resources were exhausted ; the civil war 
was daily assuming a more alarming character ; and the guerilla 
bands, set on foot by the Cadiz Junta, spreading in all directions, 
were advancing to the very gates of the capital. A convoy could 
no longer leave Madrid without an escort of three hundred men. 
The behaviour of the generals towards the inhabitants, and the dis- 
graceful and systematic plunder allowed by them, had aroused the 
utmost indignation, and driven them almost to despair. Every- 
thing and everybody was a matter of sale and bargain. At Valla- 
dolid there was a public table of rates, at which the prisoners taken 
at Ciudad Rodrigo,* wl;iich had fallen into our hands long before, 
could obtain permission to remain in Spain. The sums paid for 

their ransom were paid to the account of Genial K , the 

governor of Upper Castile. I was made acquainted with the above 
facts, and with several others of a like nature, by a letter from 
Marshal Massena, who at that time was staying at Ciudad Rodrigo, 
in command of the army he was about to lead into Portugal. On 
the 4th of August, 18 10, he wrote to the King that *' robbery and 
plunder were carried to the greatest excess ; that he lamented hav- 
ing neither the means nor even the hope of putting a stop to this 

* The place had surrendered at discretion on the 28th of June, 1810. 
The garrison were made prisoners of war, and it was intended to send 
them to France. 



548 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

condition of things, and that he wished sincerely to leave that un- 
happy country, and to renounce a command which forced him to 
witness revolting breaches of order which he found himself power- 
less to prevent." 

At the moment when this letter reached the King — distressing 
him the more because he was unable to provide a remedy for the 
grievances it made known to him — he learned that this same gov- 
ernor of High Castile had issued orders, in the name of the Em- 
peror, to the various civil and judicial authorities under his gov- 
ernment to cease further correspondence with the King' s ministers. 
Every delusion was now removed, and the Emperor's designs on 
Spain were clearly revealed. Joseph was now reduced to the rank 
of Commandant of the smallest French force in Spain. He had 
been gradually stripped of all authority, and he would no longer 
have hesitated to return to France, only that before taking that 
supreme resolve, he was anxious to know the result of the mission 
he had confided to the Marquis d'Almenara, who had, at that 
period, just reached Paris. 

He had not long to wait. Towards the middle of September 
M. d'Almenara wrote to the King that a negotiation had been 
opened with the Duke de Cadore, on the subject of the Emperor's 
demand of the cession of the provinces on the left bank of the 
Ebro, in exchange for Portugal, which should be united to Spain, 
so soon as the French troops had conquered it. But this promise 
was to be kept secret, so as not to increase the difficulty of con- 
quering Portugal by announcing beforehand to that nation that 
they were destined to pass under the yoke of a power which they 
have always hated even more than France. In short, the Emperor 
was determined to have the Ebro provinces, and for the moment 
would give nothing in exchange, and at most bound himself but 
slightly for the future. All that was required was the legal recog- 
nition of an invasion already accomplished by force. M. 
d' Almenara added that he would sign no treaty of surrender that 
did not contain, a positive stipulation as to the proposed compen- 
sation. The Emperor had not replied to the King's letter to him, 
of which I have already spoken ; but he was hurrying the negotia- 
tion, and promised to insert in the act of treaty all the clauses 
necessary to secure the dignity of the King, and to confirm his 
authority. 

As, however, Joseph had steadfastly refused any surrender of 
Spanish territory, and as he repeated his formal instructions to M. 
d'Almenara on this point, the negotiation came to nothing. The 
Emperor's ministers evaded any reply to the complaints M. 
d'Almenara had been instructed to make concerning the conduct 
of the French Generals, or replied only by recrimination. Time 



ALCALA DA HENAREZ. 549 

was frittered away ; disorder and violence continued to prevail, and 
the Emperor seemed to have adjourned his final decision until the 
expedition to Portugal should have been brought to an end. 
This, as I have said, was being carried out by Marshal Massena. 

As the English, who, at that time, were exclusively occupied in 
repelling the threatened invasion of Portugal, had withdrawn alto- 
gether from Spain, with the exception of the Isle of Leon, and as 
the Cortes convened at Cadiz were assembling there, and setting 
up a new government under the name of a regency, * there was 
during the latter months of 18 10 a sort of suspension of military 
operations in the Castiles, Estremadura and La Mancha ; and in 
the environs of the capital we were disturbed only by occasional 
raids on the part of the guerillas, whom we pursued and some- 
times captured with our flying columns. 

The King was desirous of profiting by these moments of breath- 
ing time. He consequently adjourned all deliberation on the 
state of affairs until the return of one of his two envoys to Paris, 
now shortly expected, and resolved on making an excursion to 
Guadalaxara, where some cloth manufactories belonging to the 
Crown excited his interest. I accompanied him on this journey. 

We left Madrid on the i8th of September, and halted at Alcala 
da Henarez. This town, which is the ancient Coviplutum of the 
Romans, is built on a vast plain, at a short distance from the river 
Henarez, which two leagues further on flows into the Jarama. 
The town owes its celebrity to Cardinal Ximenes. He founded at 
Alcala da Henarez a magnificent college, which still existed in 
1 8 10, an university and numerous chairs of learning. He also 
built a palace for the Archbishops of Toledo. The university of 
Alcala flourished for a long period. Fine printing-houses were 
also established in the town by the Cardinal, and the first Polyglot 
Bible was produced by them, between 15 14 and 1517. It was 
anterior by fifty years to the Antwerp Polyglot, known as the Biblia 
Regia. But at the time of our visit to Alcala, there remained but 
few traces of its ancient splendour. The University was all but 
closed, and the population, which w^as formerly from 15,000 to 
20,000 souls, was reduced to 5000 or 6000. I accompanied the 
King on his visits to the still-existing monuments. 

The principal church, dedicated to St. Justus and St. Pastor, is 
an ancient edifice of the fifteenth century. There is nothing re- 
markable in its architecture, but it contains objects held in great 
veneration by the inhabitants of Alcala ; among others a remon- 

■ * The Cortes met on the 26th of September, 18 10. They reserved for 
themselves the title of Majesty, only conferring that of Highness on the 
regency. 



550 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

strance in which are enshrined twenty-two consecrated wafers, which 
three or four centuries ago were thrown to the winds by the Moors. 
They were afterwards recovered, and have remained incorrupt ever 
since. This remonstrance, a standing miracle, is only shown on 
occasions of extraordinary solemnity, or in the presence of kings. 
The relics of two child-martyrs, preserved in an underground 
chapel, are removed from their shrine on the same occasions. To 
the King' s presence therefore we were indebted for a sight of them. 
The principal part of the relics of the two saints consists in a well- 
preserved tibia and foot, but which belonged evidently to a man 
of at least five feet six inches in height, and not to a child of ten, 
according to a legend of the youthful martyrs. These relics were 
devoutly kissed by those whom curiosity or piety had induced to 
accompany the King, and the ceremony lasted over an hour. 

The College of San Ildefonso, to which we next went, is a very 
fine building, and contains the schools and the library. The 
schools were deserted, and the library much impoverished. A fine 
collection of coins had been removed, as well as a number of valu- 
able books. A very few rare books were however exhibited to us ; 
among others, a copy of the Bible I have already mentioned, 
printed on vellum and in perfect preservation, and some Greek 
and Latin MSS. , at which I could only glance. 

The college chapel contains the tomb of Cardinal Ximenes, who 
died in J517. This monument, which is probably the work of 
Italian artists, is in Carrara marble ; it is very handsome. In the 
treasury of the chapel there are also the Turkish standards taken at 
Oran in Africa, at the time of its conquest by Cardinal Ximenes, 
and the btonze roof of one of the minarets of the town. A paint- 
ing of no great value, on the chapel wall, represents the conquest 
of Oran. In short, everything in the chapel is consecrated to the 
memory of Cardinal Ximenes. His arms and his portrait meet the 
eyes at every turn, and the memory of that great man seemed to 
animate the ruins. 

Guadalaxara, our next halting-place after leaving Alcala, is the 
ancient Arriaca of the Romans. The town is pleasantly situated 
in a plain, watered by the Henarez, and surrounded by hills. The 
plain is well cultivated, and produces corn, olives and vines. 
There is rich pasture-land on the heights. Guadalaxara was long 
inhabited by the Moors, from whom the name is derived {ouada al 
jackara, the stony river). In 18 10, the number of its inhabitants 
was about 12,000, but it was much more populous in former 
times. We stayed there two days, while the King inspected the 
cloth factory, and took various measures for reviving it. We re- 
turned to Madrid on the 2 2d of September. 

In the capital we resumed our habitual mode of life. We were 



MASSENA. 551 



encompassed with the same difficulties, and were as unable as be- 
fore to cope with them. 

We were reduced to the most deplorable expedients of finance, 
and had no hope of a remedy. Constantly expecting some deci- 
sive news from Paris, or the return of the two envoys he had sent 
thither, the King had added a third, in the person of M. Marius 
Clary, the Queen's nephew, by whom he had sent a letter to his 
wife, begging her to declare to the Emperor, that he was resolved, 
unless some change were made in his position, to leave Spain and 
take up his residence in France ;* a further device for gaining time 
and for deferring the moment at which he must take a definite de- 
cision. October and part of November thus passed away. 

Meanwhile Marshal Massena, at the head of 75,000 or 78,000 
men, had entered Portugal and taken Almeida, which capitulated 
on the 26th of August ; and after the reduction of that important 
stronghold, he had advanced into the interior of the country. But 
all communication with Spain was cut off in his rear, and for a 
considerable time we received no direct news of the expedition. 
Rumours of an alarming character were becoming prevalent in 
Madrid, when on the 20th of November the King received a letter 
from General Kellerman, containing particulars that, far from allay- 
ing our fears, were calculated to increase them. According to 
Kellerman, General Foy had left Marshal Massena at Villafranca, 
a few leagues from Lisbon, on the 2d of November, and after 
running great risks on the road, had reached Valladolid, whence 
he was setting out for Paris wdth despatches from Massena to the 
Emperor. On the 28th of September there had been a sharp en- 
gagement at Busaco, near Coimbra, between the French and the 
combined English and Portuguese forces, in which many lives had 
been sacrificed. On our side we had Generals Graindorge, Merle, 
and Simon, 4000 men killed, and more than double that number 
wounded. After this sanguinary battle, in which we had gained 
the day, the English and their allies had tranquilly effected their 
retreat, and had entrenched themselves near Lisbon, in a position 
they had previously reconnoitred and fortified. The French army 
had followed, but had perceived the impracticability of an attack. 
The English were entrenched from the sea to the Tagus ; their left 
rested on Torres Vedras, their right on the river, in their rear was 
the sea, and the Tagus, covered with gun-boats, protecting their 
flank, rendered their position unassailable. All the audacity and 
impetuosity of the French, under a most daring and determined 

* M. Clary was directed also to obtain information respecting the pur- 
chase of a property, where the King wished to take up his residence in 
the event of his return to France, his Morfoniaine estate being too near 
Paris. 



552 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

general, had failed before these obstacles, and Massena had not 
ventured to attempt a battle of which the issue must inevitably be 
fatal to us. 

To the strength of their entrenchments, and that of natural posi- 
tion, the enemy added also the advantage of superior numbers. 
There were 25,000 English, 50,000 Portuguese, and the La 
Romana corps was expected to join them. Massena had but 30,- 
000 or 35,000 men to oppose to these. His army had been thus 
reduced, by losses at the battle of Busaco, by 3000 men left to 
garrison Coimbra, who had been surprised and taken prisoners by. 
a Portuguese column manoeuvring in the rear of the French 
army, and lastly by illness among the troops, forced marches, and 
scarcity of provisions. To these almost insurmountable difficul- 
ties were added the equally serious ones arising from political cir- 
cumstances. The country was entirely deserted from the Spanish 
frontier to Lisbon. The inhabitants of that great capital had all 
taken arms, and were so terribly in earnest, that the Marshal de- 
clared that, even in the event of complete success, he could not 
venture to enter the city at the head of the small force remaining 
to him. 

In this critical situation, he applied to the Emperor for help ; 
but at the same time he hoped to effect a retreat, by crossing the 
Tagus between Abrantes and Lisbon, in order to reach the left 
bank of the river and return by Estremadura. * According to this 
plan, he hoped to conclude the campaign by besieging Elvas and 
Badajoz, intending by this means to repair the misfortune of hav- 
ing failed in the principal aim of the expedition. 

Such were the melancholy facts, and whatever was our reason- 
able confidence in the abilities and character of Marshal Massena, 
however great were the resources of his military genius, it was evi- 
dent that he himself despaired of success ; and that a third reverse 
in Portugal must have the most fatal effect on our affairs in Spain, 
and on our own fate, f 

Everything contributed therefore to render our position more 
than ever painful and harassing. Everything foreboded an inevi- 
table crisis, and confirmed me in the opinion I had formed since 
the beginning of the Spanish affair, that this war was bringing the 
Emperor's prosperity to a close, and would prove to be the rock 

* The Moniteur of the 23d of November, announcing General Foy's 
arrival in Paris, gives an account of the state of affairs in Portugal quite 
contrary to that which I have presented to the reader. It is a series of 
successes and victories, it is a diatribe against the English, instead of 
facts, which it was perhaps wise to conceal, while it was unworthy of true 
greatness to replace them with palpable falsehoods. 

f Massena was subsequently obliged to relinquish this design. 



THE RETURN OF THE ENVOY. 553 

on which his glory and his fortune would be wrecked. Subse- 
quent events have too surely justified my presentiment. 

While the reports we had just received from Portugal were 
spreading through the city, and every day receiving malevolent ex- 
aggeration ; while the public mind was being variously affected by 
them, the Duke of Santa Fe was on his way back from Paris. He 
reached Madrid on December 2d, after an absolutely fruitless 
negotiation. Before his departure he had a long conversation 
with the Emperor, or rather, he listened for a long time while 
Napoleon spoke, but had himself been scarcely able to put in a 
word. The Emperor had made lengthy recriminations and com- 
plaints concerning his brother, nor had he spared the persons in 
the King's immediate circle. He had shown especial anger at the 
style of his letters, which contained, he said, nothing but abuse, 
and he compared his position with that of several other kings in 
Europe, who in circumstances far more adverse, made fewer com- 
plaints. Such was the result of the embassy on which so many 
hopes had been built. But just as it was being made known to 
us, a letter from the Duke d'Almenara, bearing date the nth of 
November, was received by the King, and for a moment raised our 
spirits. M. d'Almenara wrote that the Emperor had specially sent 
for him ; that he had in consequence proceeded to Fontainebleau, 
and had had a two hours' conversation with him ; that he had 
thereupon received orders to start immediately for Spain, and that 
he expected to reach Madrid very shortly, bearing messages which 
— at least so he hoped — would be agreeable to the King. 

M. d'Almenara arrived on the 9th of December in the evening,* 
and on the following day the King held a council, to which he ad- 
mitted some of his Ministers, and did me the honour of summon- 
ing me also. M. d'Almenara was the first to speak, in order 10 
give an account of his mission, and particularly of his interview 
with the Emperor at Fontainebleau. 

The whole period of his stay in Paris, until that interview, had 
been employed by him in making demands that were systematical- 
ly rejected, and by the Emperor's Ministers in recriminations more 
or less well founded, which served as pretexts for declining any 
concession. No help in money, no alteration in the system of 
military government, no satisfaction as to our just cause of com- 
plaint concerning the conduct of the French generals, had been 
obtained. The only important communication received by M. 
d'Almenara had come from the Emperor himself, and was as fol- 

* It was then nearly a month since he had left Paris ; but it must be 
remembered that at that time one could only travel in Spain with con- 
voys, and that it took nearly twenty days to go from Bayonne to Madrid. 



554 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

lows. He left the King at liberty to make a proposition to the 
Cortes, recently assembled in the Isla de Leon, and prescribed in 
what spirit the proposition should be made. "The Cortes were 
to be invited to acknowledge Joseph as King, conformably with 
the Bayonne Constitution of 1808, which should be accepted by 
the Assembly, and Joseph, on his side, would recognise them as 
the true representatives of the nation. On this, Cadiz would open 
her gates, and the integrity of the Spanish territory would be main- 
tained and guaranteed by France. ' ' In making this overture to 
M. d'Almenara, the Emperor had positively assured him it was 
official, and that he was sending orders to his ambassador at Ma- 
drid to act in concert with the Spanish Government on the subject. 
He added, however, that in the event of non-success, he should 
consider himself as freed from all engagements to the Spanish na- 
tion, and that he should thenceforth act in the interests of his own 
policy only ; that the King could, of course, if he thought prop- 
er, convene other Cortes for himself in opposition to those of the 
Isla de Leon, and regulate with the new assembly the constitution 
of his states ; but that, in such case, he must not summon depu- 
ties from the provinces beyond the Ebro to it, as the Emperor 
would not allow them to present themselves. He advised that the 
overture to the Cortes of the Isla de Leon should be made with 
due regard to events taking place in Portugal, so as not to choose 
a moment when it might be interpreted as a mark of weakness or 
alarm, should those events not turn out so favourably as he still 
hoped they might. 

When M. d'Almenara had ceased speaking, the King told us 
that he wished for our opinion on the following points : the de- 
sirability of the enterprise he was authorised to attempt ; the man- 
ner in which he should make it known to the Council of State ; 
his mode of action generally ; and whether it should be made 
public, or kept secret. 

Of all the expedients that might have been suggested to the 
King to better his almost hopeless situation, I admit that I should 
never have thought of that one which the Emperor proposed to 
him, and I am still, at the present day, unable to conceive how 
such an idea can have entered his head. Did he for one moment 
imagine that the Cortes would entertain such a proposition, while 
they were masters of Cadiz, which he knew better than anyone we 
could never take ? And was it not absurd to flatter the King with 
even an appearance of success ? 1 could not conceal my surprise. 
I could only see in this a pretext to justify the union of the Spanish 
provinces of the Ebro with France, with an unspoken intention of 
afterwards abandoning Spain to conflicting parties, if the King 
should contrive to assemble a rival Cortes to that of the Isla de 



A COUNCIL. 555 



Leon ; and consequently to add the horrors of civil war to all the 
evils that actual war had brought and was still bringing on that 
unhappy country. 

I perceived, however, that, although the same reflections were 
occurring to everyone present, they were more or less inclined to 
try the Emperor's suggestion, so as to be free from any self- 
reproach, and to lessen the King's responsibility towards the nation, 
should he be eventually compelled to consent to dismemberment. 
But I pointed out that it was impossible to come to a decision or 
even to deliberate on the question, in the absence of positive 
knowledge as to the part France would take in the business, what 
authenticity she would give to her consent, and what guarantees she 
would offer for an arrangement, the execution of which, supposing 
it to be concluded, would be entirely in her own hands. On this, 
M. d'Urquijo, who had been informed by M. d'Almenara, before- 
hand of the subject of the debate, and who had already seen the 
French am.bassador, informed us that in the course of a confidential 
conversation that morning with M. Laforet, the latter had stated 
*' that it was true, he had received authorisation from Paris to con- 
cert by word of mouth with the Spanish ministry, but that at the 
same time he had formal ov^qts to write noihing/' — in other words, 
.he was authorised to advise a step on the part of the King which 
would completely ruin him with the Spaniards, while France re- 
served to herself the option of disavowing that step, whatever might 
be its issue. After listening to this explanation, it was an easy task 
to show that M. Laforet' s statement so completely altered the state 
of things that it was impossible to deliberate any further. It was 
unanimously resolved therefore that nothing could be done for the 
moment, and that we must wait for an official explanation from the 
ambassador before reconsidering the question. 

I hoped that the matter would end here, and that the sitting, 
which had been prolonged far into the night, would now be ad- 
journed. But the King, whose countenance during M. d'Urquijo' s 
speech had betrayed excessive anger, was now so painfully affected 
by this new proof of ill-will and want of faith, that he could no 
longer restrain his feelings. He burst out into violent reproach 
and bitter complaint, so vehemently expressed that, although 
accustomed to see him give way to violence in private, I was deeply 
grieved on his own account, for however just was his anger on this 
occasion, he was surrounded by persons not all of them equally 
discreet, and I trembled lest the dangers of his position should be 
• increased. Even if those present did not reveal what they had wit- 
nessed, it might lower the King in their estimation to see him so 
little able to master himself at a crisis when he needed all his cour- 
age and strength of mind. 



556 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

At last the council broke up, and I withdrew profoundly de- 
jected. 

On the following day the French ambassador, the dullest and 
most verbose of diplomates, met the King's ministers, and had, in 
particular, a long interview with M. O'Farill. He entrenched him- 
self behind the commands he had received not to write anything 
relative to the proposed negotiations with the Cortes. The King 
sent me to him him also, but I could arrive at nothing further, 
through all his unintelligible loquacity. Thus the project was 
given up, to be resumed later, as will be seen, under circumstances 
still less favourable, if possible, than those then existing. As I had 
none of the illusions cherished by the others, I did not hesitate to 
repeat to the King the arguments I had so often used before to in- 
duce him to give up the struggle, or at any rate, to go at once to 
Paris and treat directly with his brother. But as we had already 
waited for the return of two negotiators, the King wished, before 
taking any decision, to hear the news that was to be brought by the 
third, M. Clary, who as yet had scarcely had time to reach his des- 
tination, and we continued to temporise. 

The King determined, however, on taking the government of 
Madrid from General Belliard, to whom it had been entrusted by 
the Emperor after the conquest in 1808, and to replace him by a 
general of his own service. His choice fell on General Lafon de 
Blaniac, and he imagined that this political step would be gratify- 
ing to the people of Madrid, who disliked their governor to wear 
any cockade but the Spanish one ; the King himself had less cause 
of complaint from General Belliard than from any other French 
general. Moreover, this step, which gave him no real indepen- 
dence, did not meet with general approval, even among Spaniards, 
and exercised no influence over the tranquillity of the town or the 
progress of affairs. 

I must devote a few words to the guerilleros, who played an 
important part in the Peninsular war of independence, and who, 
by making all regular government impossible, largely contributed 
to the deliverance of their country from a foreign yoke. 

The reverses sustained by the Spaniards in 1809, had ended by 
convincing them that their endeavours to put regular armies in the 
field were injurious rather than advantageous to their cause. Each 
time that their troops had encountered the French they had dis- 
played such ignorance of war and such weakness on the field of 
battle, that every engagement since Baylen had been a defeat 
The lesson taught by experience was not lost, and the Spaniards 
of themselves, and as it were instinctively, adopted another system 
more in conformity with their habits and feelings. The warfare 
between the French and the Spaniards assumed more of a per- 



GUERILLERO WARFARE. 55/ 

sonal character, in which a great number of the inhabitants took 
part, either as individuals, or joining the standard of some chieftain. 

I have already pointed out the origin of the system in speaking 
of the decree of the Junta, which in the first half of 1806 had 
ordered land raids against the French. The people, especially in 
the country parts, whose enmity was served by an institution which 
gave opportunities of gratifying it, obeyed the summons with eager- 
ness. An invisible army spread itself over nearly the whole of 
Spain, like a net from whose meshes there was no escape for the 
French soldier who for a moment left his column or his garrison. 
Without uniform, and without weapons, apparently the guerilleros 
escaped easily from the columns that pursued them, and it fre- 
quently happened that the troops sent out to do battle with them, 
passed through their midst without perceiving them. Men at work 
in the fields would seize on the gun hidden in the earth, on catch- 
ing sight of a solitary Frenchman, while to the detachment cross- 
ing the field in which they laboured they were but peaceful peas- 
ants. Hidden in ambuscade along the roads and passes by which 
the French couriers or convoys must travel, the guerillero band 
counted the escort, and seldom attacked unless secure of victory. 
This kind of warfare, easier than any other, attracted to the bands 
the scattered soldiers of the regular army, who, free from the yoke 
of military discipline, and within reach of their homes, of which 
they rarely lost sight, without risk, and almost without trouble, 
secured to themselves both a certain booty and the joy of revenge. 

In the course of the year 18 10, the system of guerillero warfare 
became extraordinarily developed, and thenceforth each province 
possessed its own special band. The most distinguished chiefs 
were ; Longa, in Galicia and the Asturias ; Don Francisco Espoz 
y Mina in old Castile and Biscaya, one of the boldest and the most 
harmful to us ; Santochilder, in the kingdom of Leon ; the Baron 
d'Eroles in Aragon and Catalonia ; Don Juan Martin in New 
Castile and the neighbourhood of Madrid ; surnamed El Empe- 
cinado. Other less numerous bands were also formed, and alter- 
nately appeared and vanished according to circumstances. Their 
chiefs who were taken from all classes of society, were known rather 
by the name of their former employment than by that of their 
family ; thus there was the band of the Parocco (the parish priest), 
that of the Medico (the doctor), the Capuchino (the capuchin 
monk), of the Pastdr (the shepherd), of the Cocinero (the cook), 
'and many others. 

In proportion as the guerillero system prevailed the profession 
became a lucrative one for its members. Travellers and country 
;fblk carrying their commodities for sale in the parts occupied by 
the French, were forced to pay toll to the bands for permission to 



558 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

pass, and at last the guerillero chiefs had their own customs even on 
the French frontiers, and collected the duties as regulated by a 
tariff, to which all had to submit. Very frequently this mode 
seemed safest to French merchants, who preferred it to the slow 
process of numerously escorted convoys. 

It must be remarked, however, that in the South of Spain, the 
guerilla bands never acquired the same importance as in the two 
Castiles and in the North. In Andalusia and in the kingdom of 
Valencia likewise after its subjugation, order and tranquillity, with 
few exceptions, prevailed, as long as the French occupied those 
provinces. This comparative security was due in part to the habits 
of the people, and to their less gloomy and fanatical character, and 
in part to the development of agricultural and industrial pursuits, 
but especially to the more intelligent system of administration 
adopted by the French Commanders, and to the discipline which 
they enforced on their troops. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Critical position of the French Army in Portugal — Successes of Suchet's 
army in Catalonia — The town of Valencia makes some advances tow- 
ards treating with the King — Message from Queen Julia giving the 
King an account of an official interview with the Duke de Cadore— 
Documents in charge of a French courier are seized by the Spaniards 
and published in their newspapers — Sensation produced in Spain — The 
King seems disposed to follow the course of action advised by the Au- 
thor, but soon falls back into a state of irresolution — Reduction of 
Badajoz — Utter failure of the expedition to Portugal, and retreat of 
Massena — Marshal Victor meets with a reverse — Misunderstanding be- 
tween the chiefs of the French Army — Disturbances in Madrid on ac- 
count of the high price of bread — Altercation at the Ministerial Council 
— The King, having resolved on leaving Spain, fixes his departure for 
the ist of April, iSii — The news of the birth of the King of Rome, 
which reaches Madrid on the 29th of March, delays the execution oif 
this plan — The King at last takes his departure for France on the 23d 
of April — Reflections on Joseph's political position — Interview between 
the two brothers — The Emperor promises the King certain concessions 
— Napoleon sets out for Cherbourg, and the King for Morfontaine — 
Impression produced on the Author by the appearance of Paris — The 
Emperor's reply to a deputation of French merchants — Napoleon's un- 
satisfactory reply to his brother's complaints — Baptism of the King of 
Rome — The Emperor's ungracious reception of the Author — After a 
final interview with his brother on the 12th of June, Joseph leaves for 
Spain on the 16th ; the Author decides on accompanying him — The 
King reaches Spain on the 27th of June, and Madrid on the 15th of 
July. 

Thus ended the year 18 10, that had commenced so brilliantly with 
the conquest of Andalusia, of which there now remained to us 
little more than the recollection, all its advantages having either 
vanished away or passed into other hands ; and the new year was 
beginning as inauspiciously. The position of our army in Portugal 
became day by day more critical. At the end of December Gen- 
eral Kellerman had forwarded to the King a copy of a letter written 
from Ciudad Rodrigo, on the 6th of the same month, by General 
Drouet, Count d'Erlou. He stated that the corps under his com- 
mand, * having left Almeida towards the middle of November, had 

* This corps formed part of the army of the south under Marshal Soult, 
Duke of Dalmatia. 



560 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

advanced into Portugal by way of Belmonte and Castelfranco, and- 
had thrown out skirmishers as far as Os Cardenos ; that having 
learned there, that the bridge thrown across the Zezere at Punheta 
by Massena, had been destroyed, and, having been unable to 
obtain any information respecting the position of the French army, 
he had resolved on retracing his steps. He had therefore brought 
his troops back to Spain, tired and worn out by a twenty days' 
march across difficult country, without having fought or even seen 
the enemy. All hope of reinforcing the French army in Portugal 
was at an end. We received no direct news of it either, and the 
rumours circulated by our enemies became more and more alarm- 
ing, in spite of the efforts of the Moniteur^ which, while it pub- 
lished some extracts from the official reports in the English news- 
papers, endeavoured to deceive the public as to the true state of 
affairs, and to ignore the existing danger. 

The fall of the town of Tortosa, which surrendered on the 2d of 
January, 181 1, to General Suchet, was a pleasant contrast to the 
anxiety in which we were thrown by the depressing accounts of the 
expedition to Portugal. This victory, which was the immediate 
prelude to the fall of Tarragona, Murviedro, and eventually to 
that of the city of Valencia and the possession of one of the weal- 
thiest provinces of Spain, decided the King on despatching his aide- 
de-camp, M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, to Paris. This gentleman, 
together with others of his colleagues, had just received his share 
of the State Bonds, recently created for the liquidation of the debts 
of the Public Treasury, f and the King might justly reckon on his 
fidelity. In a letter to the Emperor, of which M. de Clermont- 
Tonnerre was the bearer, the King requested instructions for his 
conduct towards the newly-conquered province. The Archbishop 
of Valencia and the principal inhabitants of the city, had already 
made some advances towards the King, and shown a desire to 
treat directly with him, so as to prevent a siege being laid to so 

* See the Moniteur oi the 4th of December, 18 10. 

f These bonds, known as libramientos , were received in payment for 
the national domains, consisting principally of the property of the clergy 
or of the communes that had been offered for sale. They were used also 
to pay arrears of salary, and to pay various creditors of the state. The 
King, having received a considerable number on account of his civil list, 
distributed the greater part among the persons in his service, ministers, 
councillors of state, officers of his household, and French generals, whom 
he had no other means of rewarding, nor even of paying. These librami- 
entos were sold on the spot at a depreciation of 50 or 60 per cent. I re- 
ceived some of them, but as I considered myself bound to expend the sum 
in the purchase of national estates, which were confiscated on the return 
of King Ferdinand, this passing fortune soon disappeared. Those who 
sold the bonds, even at a loss, were more lucky ; something at least re^ 
mained in their hands. 



THE queen's message. 561 

flouri'Rjiing a city. Was it possible for the King tO- respond to their 
advances ? Might he proceed to Valencia, as was suggested, 
receive the submission of the city, and estabhsh his Royal resi- 
dence there for a time ? To these questions M. de Clermont- 
Tonnerre was to endeavour to obtain replies. He eagerly ac- 
cepted the commission ; but either he met with difficulties he 
could not overcome, or he had merely seized this opportunity of 
leav"ng Spain, for he ceased all correspondence with us after a 
few meaningless letters. Very shortly afterwards he left the King's 
service, and solicited — unsuccessfully, I believe — a post in the 
Dutch Guard, which, since the union of Holland to France, 
formed part of the Imperial Guard. Thus our affairs were no 
more advanced by our fourth negotiator than by the other three. 
He alone, however, had the cleverness to perceive our decadence 
and to abandon the cause he had embraced sufficiently beforehand 
to obtain pardon, it was said, for the zeal with which he had served 
it during its prosperity. 

Meanwhile, shortly after M. de Clermont-Tonnerre' s departure, 
the King, who had long been without any news from Paris, re- 
ceived some of an important nature, which was to have a great 
influence on his destiny, and which, in my opinion, should have 
put an end to all his uncertainty, and definitely fixed his resolu- 
tions. 

The Queen despatched a courier, whom she had detained eight 
months in Paris, waiting for a sufficiently important occasion for 
his services, with a letter, which he received on the 5th of Feb- 
ruary. It contained the following particulars : " The Queen 
had vainly attempted several times to speak to the Emperor con- 
cerning the King' s position. She could obtain no reply, save a 
few impatient words. A suggestion made by her with regard to 
Naples, whither the King had expressed a wish to return, met 
with the same fate. The Emperor altogether objected to the 
idea. 'lam pleased with Murat,' he told the Queen, 'he is 
more popular at Naples than my brother was.' But at length, 
after all these useless endeavours, she had received a note from 
the Duke of Cadore, on the 15 th of January, asking for an audi- 
ence. In the course of a long conversation with him, the Min- 
ister stated that he was commissioned by the Emperor to tell the 
Queen ' that his Imperial Majesty had learned, with much re- 
gret, that the King had sent his nephew to France to negotiate 
the purchase of an estate to which the King seemed to wish to 
retire. He did not recollect apparently that members of the 
Imperial family could acquire no property in France without the 
formal consent of the Emperor, and moreover that it was not 
lawful for him, either as King of Spain or as commander of the 



562 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

army of the centre, to quit his post without having obtained 
permission to do so from his Imperial Majesty. Lastly he was; 
sorry to have to say that, had the King taken so hazardous a step, 
he would have been arrested at Bayonne. The Emperor expected 
the King to throw himself completely into his political system ; 
he required blind obedience, and was resolved on sacrificing every 
other consideration and every sentiment of affection to the interests 
of his policy. The constitution of Bayonne was no longer in 
question, and his Imperial Majesty could dispose of Spain at his 
pleasure and interests, with exclusive regard to the Empire. If 
these conditions seemed unendurable to the King, if he was really 
determined to give up the throne, the Emperor saw no objection 
to his taking up his residence at Morfontaine ; only everything 
must be done in order and according to rule. In that case, the 
King must declare his purpose to the French Ambassador at 
Madrid, and arrange with him so as to avoid any interruption to 
the safety and tranquillity of the country, and above all to avoid 
exposure of any kind.' " 

Such were the contents of the Queen's letter, which I look 
upon as an official document, and on that account I have not 
scrupled to insert it in this place without any fear that by so doing 
I am committing a breach of confidence. The letter is corrobo- 
rated by an article in the Moniteur of the preceding i8th of 
January, which was brought us by the same courier, and which 
throws additional light on the Emperor's intentions. The follow- 
ing significant lines appear under date of Arragon : — '* General 
Suchet announces that public opinion is altering daily, that Eng- 
lish influence is dying out, that the ferment is over, and that the 
inhabitants of this province as well as of the districts of the centre 
and of the South and North, are loudly clamouring for union with 
the Empire. " It is right to add that the Moniteur of the fol- 
lowing day, the 19th of January, contradicted part of the above 
extraordinary paragraph, and explained that the demand for union 
with the Empire must only be understood of the people of Arragon. 
but the blow had been struck all the same. These hints had 
caused alarm in Madrid, and a Spanish newspaper printed at 
Badajoz under the name of Memorial militar y politico del exercito 
de la esquierda,'^ ^vih\\%\i^di, on the 25th and 28th of December, 
1 8 10, and on the 14th of January, 181 1, copies of some papers 
that had been seized on a French courier and taken to the Marquis 
de la Romana, Commander of the Army of the Left. These 
pages consisted of a letter from M, de Asanza, Duke of Santa Fe, 
written from Paris, on the loth of October, 18 10, to M. 

* Political and Military Memorial of the Army of the Left. 



KING JOSEPH'S HESITATION. 563 

d'Urquijo, in which he plainly unfolded the Emperor's intentions 
with regard to Spain just as they had been explained to him by M. 
de Talleyrand in a conference he had with that Minister by order 
of the Emperor. Several other documents accompanied this let- 
ter, which were also intercepted. Among them was a note from 
the Duke de Cadore to the Duke of Santa Fe, dated the ist of 
October, 18 10, positively demanding the King's abdication. To 
this was added a rough sketch of the communication the King 
should make to his Council of State in informing them of his 
intention to abdicate, and even the reply of the Council in ac- 
knowledgment of the supposed message from the King. The 
style of these documents and the curious way in which they were 
drawn up seemed to prove that if they were not pure inventions, 
at any rate the originals had been coarsely altered. The Duke of 
Sanla Fe admitted at Madrid that the confidential letter attributed 
to him was authentic. But so many circumstances coincided with 
our official knowledge, that these papers, which had evidently been 
fabricated in Paris, and which the King' s enemies took great pains 
to circulate in Spain, necessarily produced a great sensation, and 
as it was impossible to distinguish the false from the true, the pub- 
lic mind was greatly disturbed. The whole population in fact 
seemed in a state of expectancy, waiting for the impending changes, 
and preparing for them either with pleasure or with resignation, 
according to their various interests, hopes, and fears. Madrid was 
already spoken of as likely to be made the fourth or fifth city of 
the Great Empire, and the French Ambassador held out dazzling 
hopes to the Spaniards of the posts of senators, councillors of state 
and prefects, to which the Emperor would surely appoint the most 
distinguished men in Europe, as he had already appointed in Hol- 
land and Lower Germany, lately annexed to France. 

What was the King to do in such a situation as this ? Surely 
he ought without hesitation to take advantage of the opening af- 
forded by the Queen' s letter, hand over to the Emperor' s ambas- 
sador a nobly expressed and perfectly explicit declaration, renounc- 
ing for ever a crown that he could no longer wear with dignity 
on such conditions, and laying aside the vain title of King, seek 
an honourable retirement in France. 

The opportunity was too favourable for me not to seize it, and 
renewing my former entreaties, I pressed the King to act accord- 
ing to the advice I had already so frequently tendered him. I 
spoke with all the zeal of conviction and friendship, and from the 
vantage point afforded me by circumstances so strongly in favour of 
my views. 

The King seemed at first incHned to yield. He sent for M. 
Laforet, and had a long conference with him, but ^vithout the de- 



564 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



cisive result that I ardently desired. The ambassador hinted that 
in reality the Emperor wished his brother to remain in Spain, and 
that he in his capacity of ambassador was of the same opinion, 
that he thought the King should place himself completely in the 
Emperor's hands, and should submit to him without reserve ; 
that he would find his advantage in so doing, and that His Im- 
perial Majesty, satisfied by such a course, would then relax the 
strict conditions he had imposed. After this first conference, 
which led to nothing, the King drew up the note that he proposed 
to hand to the ambassador, and showed it to me. It was well 
done on the whole, but, I considered that it did not indicate with 
sufficient clearness that retirement was the course he preferred to 
all others. I should have wished him to have spoken more plain- 
ly, and I ventured to tell him so, but in vain. Evidently 
the name of King was a spell from which Joseph had not as 
yet escaped, and I could not wonder at the fascination exercised 
by the possession of supreme power, when even its shadow 
can turn the scale against such numberless vexations and griev- 
ances. 

The ambassador was, however, dissatisfied with the wording of 
the note, and proposed various alterations. These all tended to 
obtain from the King a more explicit statement that he would con- 
form in everything to the Emperor's requirements. The King on 
his side refused to agree to some of the alterations ; but at length, 
after several days' hesitation and many conferences, the revised 
note was handed to the ambassador, and as it contained in sub- 
stance the King's submission to the decision of the Emperor, it 
became necessary to await that decision, which never arrived, as 
might easily have been foreseen. 

The early part of 181 1 was thus passed in fruitless parley. Mil- 
itary operations meanwhile, in which the Army of the Centre took 
no part, although our fate was hanging in the balance, were being 
carried on about us with varying results, but they were in general 
unfavourable. A corps, detached from the Army of the South, 
and commanded by Marshal Soult in person, was besieging Bada- 
joz ; and after a brilliant skirmish outside the walls,* in which the 
Spaniards lost from 7000 to 8000 men, straitened the siege of the 
place, and, as it had given up all hope of succour, it capitulated. 
But this important conquest, which should have preceded our 
operations in Portugal, so as to have given the besieging corps the 
opportunity of advancing into Portuguese Estremadura, after the 
surrender of the town, and of assisting Marshal Massena, was of 
no use to the expedition. A letter to the King from Marshal Bes- 

* Battle of the Gebora, the 19th of February, i8n. 



BADAJOZ. 565 

sieres,* informed us, towards the end of March, that IVIassena, 
unaware that Badajoz had fallen, f and without means of subsist- 
ence for his army, was retreating upon Coimbra. J The expedi- 
tion had altogether failed, and the English remained in possession 
of Portugal. But, while Marshal Soult was besieging Badajoz, a 
large corps of English and Spaniards marched out of Cadiz in the 
beginning of March, and attacked Marshal Victor at Chiclana. 
After a sanguinary conflict, lasting over four hours, the French 
gave way, and retired within their lines, with considerable loss of 
men and officers. Among the latter was General Ruffin. The 
enemy's strength was calculated at 20,000 men, against whom 
Marshal Victor could only bring about 8000. The Duke of Dal- 
matia was therefore obliged to leave Estremadura in all haste, to 
go to the help of Marshal Victor, leaving a strong garrison be- 
hind him at Badajoz, and a small corps under Marshal Mortier, 
to watch both the conquered town and the Portuguese frontier, 
which the English might be expected to cross at any moment. 
Such were the particulars brought to the King by Colonel Desprez 
on his return from Badajoz. 

To our misfortunes in war were added the evils of disunion 
among our generals, caused by reverses to which we were, as yet, 
unaccustomed. Massena's intentions, and his plan of campaign, 
had been continually opposed by the dashing courage and im- 
petuous temper of Ney. Their misunderstandings ended in a 
complete separation, and the Duke of Elchingen reached Spain 
before the army, and had already arrived at Salamanca while Mar- 
shal Massena was still in Portugal. General Junot also, whom 
the Emperor had insisted on sending back, had greatly diminished 
the chances of success. His name was hateful to the Portu- 
guese by reason of his excesses during the first campaign, and 
had contributed in no small degree to alienate the inhabitants, 
and to increase the number of our enemies in the interior of the 
country. 

On the other hand the high price of corn, a prelude to the 
famine which prevailed a few months later, had caused great dis- 
turbance in Madrid, and as the increase in the price of bread had 
been posted up on the King's fete day (the 19th of March), the 
coincidence gave rise to several insulting remarks, which the ill- 

* He had recently assumed the command of the army of the north of 
Spain. 

: f The town surrendered on the loth of March, and the army of Portu- 
gal began its retreat on the night of the 5th. 

X He did not remain there, but continuing his march, in spite of im- 
mense difficulties, he brought his army back to Spain, reduced to 30,000 
men, having lost nearly all his artillery and cavalry. 



566 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

disposed hastened to circulate. The state of the city seemed suf- 
ficiently alarming to call for an extraordinary sitting of the coun- 
cil, to which I was summoned. The meeting was stormy ! A 
sharp altercation took place between the Minister of Police and 
the Minister of the Interior ; each tried to cast the blame attribu- 
table to circumstances on each other, both, in fact, being equally 
guiltless : cleverer men than they must have failed to do better. 
The King also lost his temper, and at one moment was on the 
point of dismissing council and ministers in high displeasure. 
Happily, the tumult calmed down. The price of bread was placed 
on the old footing ; the Madrid bakers were indemnified for the 
loss they must incur, and tranquillity was restored to the capital ; 
but the scene I had witnessed at the council clearly showed the 
state of public feeling. Distrust, anger, and resentment were 
breaking out in all directions, even in the very heart of the ad- 
ministration, and these fatal symptoms announced the impending 
dissolution of a government whose ruin was being accelerated by 
a total want of pecuniary resources and by the stern inflexibility of 
the Emperor. 

At the very time, in fact, when we were full of these anxieties, 
we received the Moniteur of the 26th of February, 181 1, contain- 
ing the notes inserted by the Emperor on the speech of the King 
of England to his Parliament. The spirit in which these extraor- 
dinary notes were drawn up, left no room for doubt as to Napo- 
leon' s iiitentions regarding Spain, nor of the fate he was about to 
assign to a country which he looked upon as his own conquest, 
and was determined to treat as such. It was a public and precise 
reply to the note M. de Laforet had received from the King, and 
none other could now be expected. 

The King, straitened on all sides, surrounded by fast-increas- 
ing difficulties, threatened with risings in Madrid to which the 
scarcity might at any moment lead, beset, outside the walls, by 
the guerilla bands that at times approached to the very gates, and 
having exhausted all his resources, at last resolved to leave Spain, 
and fixed his departure for the ist of April. But he kept his de- 
sign secret, lest, if it became known, the Emperor might oppose 
its execution.* Preparations were being silently carried on, when 
a new incident arrested their progress. 

A courier, despatched by the Prince de Neufchatel, reached 
Madrid on the evening of the 29th of March, bringing the news 
of the birth of the King of Rome. A few days later, on the 8th 

* The reader has already seen, in the Queen's letter, the statement of 
the Duke de Cadore, that the Emperor would have ordered his brother to 
be arrested at Bayonne, had he set out on his journey without Imperial 
permission. 



THE emperor's HEIR. 567 

of April, General Defrance brought the formal intimation of this 
great event to the Court of Spain, and handed the King a letter 
from the Emperor. It was written in a kindly tone, and gave 
some particulars of the birth. For some minutes serious fears had 
been felt for the safety both of mother and child. The letter was 
rather that of one brother to another, than that of a Sovereign ad- 
dressing another Sovereign, and it ended in these words : — ' ' Gen- 
eral Defrance, the bearer of this letter, will give you another, in 
which I beg you to be one of your nephew' s godfathers. ' ' This 
return to brotherly affection gave the King great pleasure, and in 
some measure restored his confidence. Unfortunately, no mate- 
rial help accompanied these friendly missives, and our political 
situation remained unchanged. 

I abstain from particulars of the fetes given at Madrid, in honour 
of the birth of a child on whom the fate of so many persons depend- 
ed, and whose existence seemed to crown the Emperor's good 
fortune. The people of Madrid took little interest in the fetes ; 
yet they were not indifferent to the event which occasioned them. 
Naturally superstitious, they thought it betokened a signal favour 
from heaven, a Providential decree, and resigned themselves to 
the yoke of a man who seemed to be specially protected by the 
Almighty. 

The momentary satisfaction caused by the event soon passed 
away, and stern reality resumed its sway. General Defrance had 
scarcely set out on his return to Paris, when the King resolved on 
following him so closely that the Emperor should not hear of his 
proposed departure until too late to prevent it. On the 20th 
April he assembled his ministers, and announced his intention of 
proceeding immediately to Paris, for the purpose of a conference 
with the Emperor. He said, at the same time, that his absence 
would be of short duration, and that he hoped to return in two 
months at latest. Every one felt the step to be a necessary one, 
and no objection was offered. The King named the persons who 
should accompany him, * and his departure was fixed for April 
the 23 d. 

In accompanying the King on this journey, I had no expecta- 
tion of ever returning to Madrid. Yet I could not form any pre- 
cise idea of what we were going to do in Paris, or of what would 
become of us. I could not deceive myself as the others did, and 
believe that the Conference had been arranged beforehand between 
the brothers. Nothing, to my mind, was more uncertain than the 
kind of reception that awaited us in France : I was not even sure 

* O'Faril, Minister of War ; Urquijo, Secretary of State ; and Campo- 
Alanje, Minister of Exterior Relations, were among the number. 



568 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that we should be allowed to enter that country. We were ap- 
proaching a melancholy denouement, in my opinion ; but, as its 
causes were of old date, I will linger awhile to make a few reflec- 
tions on them. 

No doubt there had existed difficulties in Spanish affairs which 
no human foresight, no political skill, could have overcome ; but 
we must admit that a large proportion of the misfortunes encoun- 
tered by the King, and those who had staked their fortunes on his, 
was due to a generally vicious system. The designs of the Em- 
peror, and the invincible repugnance evinced towards them by the 
nation, rendered it impossible to be a Constitutional King in 
Spain, to preserve the territory of ancient monarchy in its integ- 
rity, and, in a word, to reign with at least administrative inde- 
pendence, since political independence was out of the question. 
Force only could maintain us in our position, and that force was 
in the hands of the Emperor ; therefore, after the conquest of 
Madrid, in December, 1808, we should either have abstained 
from entering the capital or have been satisfied to be the mere 
instrument of a military power. Joseph had followed neither 
course. He still wanted to believe himself a King, and to exercise 
kingly functions in their full extent, to create a national govern- 
ment and a national ministry, and to set up a strong line of de- 
marcation between the French and the Spaniards. But he had 
not calculated that since, by these means, he had not obtained the 
approval of the Spanish nation, he had nothing with which to op- 
pose the Emperor, who could not tolerate such a course of con- 
duct ; that he would exhaust himself in vain efforts to acquire 
popularity,^ and that, instead of having a support in the Emperor 
against the enmity of the nation, he would, on the contrary, find 
him opposed to every one of the pretensions, for whose success 
not a single Spaniard, with the exception of a few interested per- 
sons, seriously cared. This in fact is exactly what took place. 
Civil authority and military authority, administration and finance, 
were successively encroached on by the Emperor's generals and 
agents. Standing alone in the midst of his States, bearing a title 
that was only an oppressive burden, the King had, in reality, 
ceased to exist as a monarch, and barely retained some semblance 
of authority over a small part of the French army as a general. 
Reduced by the exhausted state of his treasury to the last extrem- 
ity, he had at length seriously thought of departure, and we were 
on the point of quitting Spain. But, although he must long have 
foreseen the necessity for taking this resolution, he was leaving the 
country without making any conditions, and without any guaran- 
tee for the future. He had declined to pledge himself so distinctly ; 
as the Emperor required, in hopes of contriving a possibility of 



JV FRATERNAL INTERVIEW. 569 

remaining, and this middle course had served as a pretext for giv- 
ing him no reply whatever. 

We were going to Paris, therefore, trusting to chance for suc- 
cess, and altogether ignorant of what kind of reception would be 
given us. For my own part I set out on the journey wishing 
from my heart that our reception might be such as to dispel en- 
tirely all that love of grandeur which still cast a spell over the 
King, and such as to make him resolve to seek in retirement for 
happier days than those he had passed on two tottering thrones. 
I sincerely wished this for his glory and my own repose, but I was 
disappointed. 

We left Madrid on the 23d of April, 181 1. In the Spanish 
towns through which we passed, the King received the homage of 
the authorities, and announced everywhere that he was going to 
Paris to confer with his brother, but that he would return to his 
dominions almost immediately. He protested openly that he was 
entirely opposed to any dismemberment of the monarchy, and that 
in no case would he consent to treaties which might infringe in 
the slightest degree on Spanish territory. He made no stay, how- 
ever, in any town, and hastened his journey as much as, being 
encumbered with a numerous escort only able to make short stages, 
he could do. 

We crossed the French frontier on the loth of May, and, mere- 
ly passing through Bayonne, we passed the night at Dax. We 
had met a courier in the course of the day bringing a letter from 
the Prince of Neuchatel, in which, in the name of the Emperor, he 
advised the King not to leave Spain. But ..e had already crossed 
the frontier, and it was too late to turn back. The King contin- 
ued his journey, and on the evening of the 15th of May we reached 
Paris and drove to the Luxembourg. 

The brothers met at Rambouillet. It was arranged between 
them that the approaching baptism of the King of Rome should 
serve as a pretext for the King's journey, which was to be sup- 
posed to have been made with a view only to his being present at 
that ceremony. It was agreed, moreover, that Joseph should ap- 
pear in the character of a French Prince and Grand Elector, wearing 
the white costume embroidered in gold reserved exclusively for 
those members of the Imperial family who were in the line of 
succession. Little was said on this occasion concerning the real 
motive of his journey. Vague promises were made to the King 
on the subject, and he fared no better in several subsequent inter- 
views. At last the Emperor, who was preparing to set out for 
Cherbourg, promised to issue orders from Caen, that the com- 
mand-in-chief of the armies in Spain should be restored to the 
King, and that he should receive a monthly subsidy for the pur- 



570 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

pose of carrying on his government, and for the partial support of 
his troops. * The Emperor also left the King free to return to 
Spain, if he were satisfied with these conditions, or to remain in 
France, if they did not suit him. On the day after this interview, 
which took place at Rambouillet, the Emperor set out, and v/e 
waited the fulfilment of his promises at Morfontaine. 

I was again in Paris after six years' absence ; but I was far from 
feeling unmixed joy in returning to my country. I was oppressed 
with gloomy forebodings. The past, the present and the future 
weighed down my spirits. Owing to my individual position, I 
was a foreigner in the midst of my countrymen ; in the service of 
a King of Spain and yet not a Spaniard, nor willing ever to be- 
come one, and nevertheless deprived of my former rights as a citi- 
zen. My position, and that of other Frenchmen in like case, was 
the more painful that the Emperor seemed anxious to make us feel 
it, in all its severity, by withholding from us not only our former 
honours at his court, where as Frenchmen we had held various 
posts, but also the honours attached, to the posts which we filled in 
his brother's service. I could easily have consoled myself for the 
loss of such vain prerogatives, had not the Emperor's conduct tow- 
ards us been the outcome of a system that threatened my means 
of subsistence, and wrested from me the fruits of my past services, 
without offering me the least compensation for the great sacrifice I 
had made. 

I wandered through the streets of Paris, a prey to these gloomy 
reflections, unable to dismiss my anxieties, although fresh objects 
of interest continually appealed to my curiosity. How wonder- 
fully Paris' had improved since my departure for Naples in January 
1806 ! Magnificent quays, open sites ornamented with the tro- 
phies of our conquests, fine bridges named after our victories, col- 
umns and statues had been constructed in the city ; new fountains 
had sprung up in all directions, and although good taste had not 
always presided over the rapid construction of all these things, 
their usefulness fully justified their existence, while their splen- 
dour and their number astonished the spectator. The Louvre, 
that had been left unfinished by a long line of Kings, was now 
nearly completed, a second gallery was rising from the ground to 
connect this ancient palace with the Tuileries. Spacious museums 
contained the chefs-d'oeuvre of ancient and of modern Rome, of 
Italy and of Flanders. In every direction marble and bronze 
proclaimed that the man who had created so much in so short a 

* The King had a numerous guard, consisting of Spanish regiments 
and of French officers and soldiers, who, with the Emperor's consent, 
had passed into his service. 



PARIS UNDER NAPOLEON I. 571 

;pace of time, was one who knew how to glorify the nation by 
he arts of peace as well as by those of war. 

That extraordinary man seemed now to have attained the utmost 
leight of human greatness. Fortune had just put the finishing 
itroke to her favours by bestowing on him a son. A number of 
embassadors, of princes, even of Sovereigns, mingled with his 
:ourtiers, crowded the Emperor's antechambers, and pressed 
iround the cradle of his child. All that the language of admira- 
ion and flattery could invent had been exhausted in the speeches, 
iiscourses, poems, and episcopal pastorals that filled the long- 
luffering columns of the newspapers. Europe, in fact, with the 
ixception of England and the Peninsula of Leon, was at the feet 
)f Napoleon, and yet there were gathering clouds beginning even 
low to cast their shadow over all this splendour and imposing 
irray. Serious differences were arising between Napoleon and 
Alexander and undermining the friendship formed between them 
It Tilsit and Erfurth. Commerce, which had been ruined by the 
Berlin and Milan decrees on the continental blockade, was 
anguishing everywhere. Complaints were made, and as they 
massed unheeded, the popular discontent found vent in murmurs 
md insulting placards. The Emperor's inexflibility defied the pop- 
ilar disfavour, and rejected every appeal ; nevertheless he felt im- 
pelled to justify his conduct. He was forced to explain himself, 
md he even now began to attribute some of the grievances of trade 
;o the conduct of the Emperor of Russia. Nothing is more re- 
narkable from this double point of view than the reply made by 
lim, during my sojourn in Paris, to a deputation of merchants to 
►vhom he had granted an audience. It was as follows : 

** The decrees of Berlin and Milan are fundamental laws of my 
Empire. As to neutral navigation, I look upon a flag as an exten- 
sion of territory ; any power that allows it to be violated cannot be 
:onsidered as neutral. 

** The fate of American trade will soon be decided. I shall 
■avour it, if the United States conform to my decrees ; if not, their 
vessels shall be forbidden the ports of my Empire. 

* ' Commercial relations with England must cease, I tell you 
plainly, gentlemen ; merchants who have business to wind up, or 
:apital to withdraw, should do so as soon as possible. I gave the 
same advice, formerly to the citizens of Antwerp ; they found it to 
their advantage. I desire peace, but not a patched-up peace ; I 
want it to be real, and such as can afford me sufficient guarantees, 
[or I forget neither Amiens nor St. Domingo, nor the losses inflicted 
3n trade by the last declaration of war. I would not have made 
peace at Tilsit ; I would have gone to Wilna and farther still, only 
[or the promise of the Emperor of Russia to procure a peace be- 



572 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tween France and England. Before the union with Holland, I 
made further overtures of peace ; the English Government would 
not even listen to them. 

* * The continent shall remain closed to imports from England. 
I shall remain armed in order to carry out my decrees and resist 
the attempts of the English in the Baltic. Some fraud exists still, 
but it shall be completely crushed. I know the discounters of 
English trade. Those who think only of evading the law by ex- 
travagant operations end in bankruptcy. But, if they succeed in 
escaping from my officers of customs, my sword will reach them 
sooner or later, in three, four, five, or six months' time, and they 
will have no right to complain. 

* ' I keep my ear open in mercantile circles ; I know that my 
measures are openly blamed, and that I am said to be ill-advised. 
I cannot be angry with such men for their opinions — they are not 
in a position to see and to calculate, as I am. Those however 
who have recently arrived from England, and who have seen the 
impression beginning to be produced there by the interruption to 
trade with the continent, cannot refrain from saying : * He may 
possibly be right ; he may, after all, succeed in his designs.'* 

" In my empire, internal trade amounts to more than four mill- 
iards. On this basis its resources and its prosperity must be com- 
bined. I know that Bordeaux and Hamburg and the other ports 
are suffering through the interruption to maritime trade. Some 
municipal regulations of the Emperor of Russia will be injurious 
to the Lyons manufactories. These are individual losses. I en- 
deavour to alleviate them. 

' ' But our exports to Russia, which did not exceed twenty-five 
millions, that is to say between one and two per cent, on the 
whole mass in circulation, cannot interfere with, or alter the gen- 
eral course of trade. Russia has paper-money, so has Austria. 
England is choked with it. France is the richest country in the 
world. Her territorial resources are immense. She has plenty 
of money : according to calculations that have been made, more 
than a milliard has been paid into France by war-contributions. 
I have 200 millions in my private treasury at the Tuileries ; I re- 
ceive taxes amounting to 900 millions in cash, of which only a 
very small portion are the proceeds of foreign trade. 

" I am informed that in consequence of some recent experi- 
ments France will be able to do without sugar and indigo from 

* The effect of the Berlin and Milan decrees would have been still 
more disastrous for England, if the Emperor himself had not modified 
them by granting licenses ; a scandalous trade was carried on in these to 
the benefit of certain courtiers, and it was asserted in Paris at the time, 
that even the Emperor's private treasury was enriched by it. 



MORFONTAINE. 573 



the Indies. I shall encourage both those industries. Chemistry 
has, in these days, made such progress, that it is possible it may 
effect a revolution in commercial relations as extraordinary as that 
caused by the discovery of the compass. I do not say that I do 
not wish for either maritime trade or colonies ; but they must be 
given up for the time being ; either until England changes her 
policy for one more reasonable and just, or until I can dictate 
terms of peace to her. If I were the heir of the throne of Louis 
XV. or Louis XVI. , I should be forced to solicit peace from the 
English on my knees ; but I succeeded to the Emperors of 
France. I have added the mouths of the largest rivers of Europe 
and the Adriatic to my empire ; there is nothing to prevent me 
from building and arming a fleet of two hundred vessels. I know 
that the English will have better admirals, and that is a great ad- 
vantage. But by dint of fighting we shall learn how to conquer. 
We shall lose the first, second and third battle, and we shall win 
the fourth, for the simple reason that the stronger must subdue 
the weaker. I had not thought that the glut of English goods, 
which is announced on the South American markets, would have 
happened so soon, but I had reckoned rightly on the absence of 
returns. When once the markets for colonial produce are 
closed, the English may throw the sugar, and the indigo, for 
which they exchange their industrial produce, into the Thames. 
Here, as in England, manufacturers have been imprudent and 
foolish ; they have not known how to combine demand and sup- 
ply. The English Government has been obliged to give substan- 
tial help ; I have done the same in some cases, and I could have 
done much more, but I thought it neither expedient nor right to 
encourage such evil and dangerous principles. To manufacture 
is not enough ; it is necessary to know where and how to sell, and 
not to make ten yards of stuff when there is only sale for four. 
It was not difficult to foresee that after twenty years of war and 
trouble the consumption of the continent must greatly diminish, 
and that many persons who used to have four new coats in a year 
would have to restrict themselves to two, or one. 

" Trade is an honourable pursuit, if conducted with prudence 
knd economy. You must be wise, gentlemen. A merchant must 
not gain his fortune as one gains a batUe ; he must make small 
and continual profits." 

A few days after the audience in which the Emperor delivered 
the above allocution, he left Paris for Cherbourg. Meanwhile the 
King remained at Morfontaine, where, with the exception of oc- 
casional visits to Paris, he resided permanently. I had accompa- 
nied him thither, and we were waiting for orders from the Em- 
peror, which he had promised to send from Caen. Joseph hoped 



574 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

to receive them in time to leave Paris before the baptism of the 
King of Rome, v/hich had been fixed for the 9th of June. He 
had so completely forgotten his origin and had so thoroughly 
identified himself with his role as a sovereign, that to appear pub-( 
licly in attendance on his brother, and as his vassal, so to speak, 
seemed to him a humiliation. But the Emperor, who, on his 
part, was by no means superior to the promptings of the meanest 
vanity, and who attached importance to being surrounded on this 
occasion by a family of Kings, purposely delayed his decision, so 
that even if Joseph should decide on returning to Spain, he could 
not, without a breach' of propriety, leave Paris before the 9th of 
June. 

After ten days of suspense, the Prince de Neuchatel arrived at 
Morfontaine on the 2d of June, bringing the reply to Joseph's de- 
mands. It was expressed in ambiguous terms, and far from an- 
swering the King's expectations. It merely assigned to the King 
a subsidy of 500,000 francs (^^20,000) per month,* and stated 
that orders would be given to the generals commanding the French 
troops in Spain to recognise the King as Commander-in-Chief. 
But no copy of these orders was forwarded with the letter, 
although it was a most important matter for us to know how they 
were expressed. They should have been so drawn up as to pre- 
clude all doubt of the Emperor's intentions, and to afford no pre- 
text for misinterpreting or evading them. Nor was any change 
made in the system of administration that had prevailed for the 
last year in France, and the four great governments on the left 
bank of the Ebro, Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, and Biscaya, con- 
tinued to exisc as before, exempt from the King' s authority and 
under the exclusive rule of the Emperor. I was therefore of 
opinion — and the Spanish ministers to whom the King communi- 
cated the answer brought by the Prince of Neuchatel, agreed with 
me — that Joseph could not return to Spain with no more secure 
guarantee than this, and that at any rate he must await the return 
of the Emperor in order to have a further explanation with him. 
We therefore resigned ourselves to a fresh delay. The Emperor 
returned to St. Cloud on the ist of June, and saw his brother on 
the 5th, but no positive decision was arrived at. The day ap- 
pointed for the baptism of the King of Rome was at hand, and all 
business was deferred until after the approaching fetes. 

The ceremony took place on the 9th of June. In the morning 
there was an extraordinary Diplomatic Audience, a reception and 

* The subsidy was to consist of one million francs per month until Jan- 
uary I, 1812 ; but only 500.000 francs were at the King's disposal, the 
other 500,000 being intended for the pay of the French troops, belonging 
to the Army of the Centre. 



MARIE LOUISE. 575 



-^if' a review. I was at the Tuileries with the other persons attached 
to the King's service, both Spaniards and Frenchmen. The Em- 
peror received the former very graciously, and the others rudely. 
I had, for my part, every reason to regret that I had overcome my 
;;i;fepugnance to presenting myself at the Tuileries ; but I had been 
obliged to do as the others did, and they were no better treated 
than I. However, I consoled myself for our disgrace ; for the re- 
ception afforded me an opportunity of observing the splendour, 
new to me, of the Emperor's court. Never in the old Versailles 
L „ days had more pomp and magnificence been displayed than now 
;q at the Tuileries. Never had a greater number of princes, am- 
bassadors, foreigners of high rank, princes of the Church, minis- 
ters, magistrates and generals, glittering in gold, scarlet, and pre- 
cious stones, bedizened with orders and decorations of every colour 
of the rainbow, offered more obsequious homage or solicited more 
eagerly the boon of a word or of a glance. In the midst of all these, 
the Emperor alone seemed at his ease, and unconstrained. He 
passed with a firm step through the crowd of courtiers who made 
way respectfully before him. By a single glance he filled those 
whom he approached with joy, or cast them into despair, and 
.when he deigned to speak, the fortunate mortal whom he ad- 
dressed, bent his head, strained his ear, and scarcely ventured to 
breathe or murmur a reply. Such was the aspect of the Tuileries 
in 181 1. Two years later I stood again on the same spot. All 
was changed. 

On leaving the Emperor's audience chamber, we were shown 

-;:.:into that of the Empress. In the salon, while waiting for her to 

tuappear, I saw her uncle, the Grand Duke Ferdinand, at whose 

b Court in Florence I had been Minister, thirteen years before. He 

.^: did not, or pretended that he did not, recognise me, and I made 

i- no attempt to refresh his memory. But I smiled at the strange 

vicissitude of fortune, by which the former Sovereign of Tuscany, 

and the former Ambassador at his Court, were brought together, 

each paying his court to a grand-daughter of Maria Theresa, now 

tc the wife of the former General of the French Republican army in 

iTG Italy. 

While I was reflecting on this curious coincidence, the Empress 
entered the room. It was the first time I had seen her. She was 
not beautiful, but she struck me as being pleasing. Her expres- 
sion was noble but rather disdainful. Accompanied by the Duch- 
ess of Montebello she made the circuit of the assembly, speak- 
ing with grace and kindness to several persons, whom she desired 
to have named to her. Everybody present was delighted. After 
this we received our dismissal and withdrew. 

The baptism took place in the afternoon. I was not present. 



576, MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The King was not attended by any of the suite whom he had 
brought from Madrid. Count de Jaucourt acted as his First Cham- 
berlain, and my friend Stanislas Girardin as' First Equerry ; all I 
saw therefore was the procession passing along the Boulevards, and 
I soon perceived that neither the presence of the Emperor, nor the 
pomp with which he was surrounded, made the same impression 
on the people as of yore. There were but few acclamations, and 
these proceeded principally from a perambulating group, evidently 
in the pay of the police, which followed the progress of the car- 
riages. Many of the spectators did not lift their hats, and among 
the general public there was no enthusiasm. 

As I have said, all who took an interest in Joseph, even his 
Spanish Ministers, were of opinion that the insignificant conces- 
sions he had obtained, which made no account of his principal 
grievances, and which perhaps were not even sincere, could not 
justify him in returning to Spain. The King, however, had al- 
ready made up his mind. A desire on the one hand, to escape 
from the restraints imposed on him in Paris, and on the other, 
the charm, which notwithstanding the most painful experience, 
still lingered, in the merest shadow of supreme power, and, more 
than all perhaps, a love affair at Madrid which attracted him to the 
capital, * had led him, in opposition to the counsels of his most 
devoted friends, to decide on returning to the Peninsula. He had 
a final interview with the Emperor on the 12 th of June. I never 
knew exactly what took place on that occasion. I was two days 
without seeing the King ; I only heard that a month's pay of the 
subsidy was being paid in advance, and forwarded to Spain from the 
Imperial Treasury, and that Marshal Jourdan was to resume his 
post of Major-General to the King ; an arrangement on which 
Joseph had specially insisted. Moreover, I was informed on the 
14th, as were all the members of the King's suite, that he had fixed 
on the 1 6th for beginning his return journey to Spain. 

During the whole of that day (the 14th) I hesitated whether to 
accompany King Joseph or to remain permanently in France. It 
seemed to me, that having hitherto blamed his sojourn in Spain, 
he could not doubt that I should much more strongly disapprove 
of his resolution of returning thither, and I feared that this diversity 

* The lady who so greatly attracted Joseph was the charming wife of 
one of his Majordomos, the Marquis de M . . ..who appeared to be 
much aggrieved by the liaison. The Marquise, who on the expulsion of 
the French from Spain, could not remain in the country, took refuge in 
France, as did a large number of her compatriots belonging to the Afran- 
cesados party, where, on the death of her first husband, she married a 
French officer who had belonged to King Joseph's guard. 



A DIFFICULT RESOLUTION. 577 

of opinions might end by impairing our friendship ; that he might 
come to look upon me rather as an importunate critic than as a 
devoted friend. On the other hand, my family was in Spain. I 
had left my wife, my children, my brother, and my son-in-law, 
nearly every one I loved, behind me. How could I recall them ? 
What compensation could I offer them for the appointments, the 
places, and the ease that they enjoyed, owing to the kindness of 
the King ? What could I do for them in Paris, alone, without 
fortune, and in disgrace with the Emperor .? Lastly, and this con- 
sideration had most weight with me, how could I desert the prince 
to whom for six years, I had in a sense dedicated my life ? And 
the stronger my conviction that he was laying himself open to fur- 
ther cares and sorrows, the more did I think myself bound by affec- 
tion and by duty to share them. Doubt therefore yielded to 
Friendship, and I resolved to go. 

On the 1 6th of June, very early in the morning, just as I was 
about to enter my carriage, the Queen sent for me to her apart- 
ments. She thanked me cordially for having resolved not to 
forsake her husband. She repeated several times, that he would 
have been greatly grieved had I decided on remaining in Paris, but 
that out of delicacy he had left me free to choose, because he felt 
that he himself might never be in a position to reward this fresh 
mark of attachment. This conversation comforted me in no small 
degree, and I set out in tolerably good spirits. 

We reached Bayonne on the 23d of June. The King remained 
there two days, and took up his abode at the Chateau de Marac, a 
short distance from the town. He seemed to hesitate about re- 
entering Spain. During our sojourn at Bayonne we saw the cir- 
cular letter from the Prince de Neuchatel to the French Generals 
commanding in the Peninsula. It was far from fulfilling the 
promises made to us before we left Paris. The Emperor merely 
commanded that the King should receive the honour due to his 
rank during his progress, and there was no mention of the supreme 
command that had been promised him. 

This beginning of disappointments should have shown the King 
how little he could rely on the strict execution of the remainder 
of the Emperor s promises. There was still time to draw back, 
and I ventured to advise him to do so. But the commotion this 
step would have caused, prevented him from taking it, and we 
crossed the Bidassoa on the 27th of June. 

We advanced slowly towards Madrid. W^e stayed two days at Vit- 
toria, and then three at Burgos, where General Thiebault, governor 
of the province, gave some fetes in honour to the King. There was 
a ball, fireworks, and every outward demonstration of the satisfac- 



5/8 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tion and delight caused by the return of a legitimate and beloved 
sovereign. * 

We were well received also at Valencia, Valladolid, and Segovia. 
Finally, we reached Madrid on the 15th of July, 181 1. The 
King made his entry at 5 p. m. A large concourse of people were 
waiting for him on the road. A kind of triumphal arch had been 
erected at a short distance from the town, and the magistrates of 

* Eighteen months before our visit to Burgos, the tomb of the Cid and 
Ximena had been removed hither. This tomb, which had been formerly 
in a chapel of St. Peter's Abbey, some few leagues from Burgos, was 
plated on the banks of the Arlan5on, which runs through the town, below 
the Espolon quay, the public promenade of Burgos. The monument, 
when I saw it, in 181 1, consisted of a base in the modern style, about 
five feet in height, supporting an ancient sarcophagus, on which recline 
the figures of the Cid and Ximena Dias, his wife. The four sides of the 
sarcophagus bear the arms of the Cid and those of his wife, trophies of 
arms, and other decorations which are well, though not delicately, 
carved. The frieze of the entablature bears an inscription of which one 
half is in Gothic lettering in relief, considerably broken, in which I 
picked out a date M.D. XXXVII. I am not certain, however, that I may 
not have been mistaken, for the style of sculpture appeared to me to 
belong to an earlier period. The rest of the frieze contains the follow- 
ing words painted in black : " Dona Ximena Diaz, Muger del Cid, nieta 
del rey D. Alonze el v de Leon." On the end of the sarcophagus, be- 
neath the feet of the reclining figures, is the following inscription : 
" EsteS cuerpos del Cid y su muger se trasla daron de la capella mayor a 
esta, con facultad de nuestro Catholico Monarca D. Felipe V, ano 1736." 
On the four sides of the base were four inscriptions, that have probably 
been destroyed since my visit to Burgos. Those on the longer sides 
were alike, one in French, the other in Spanish, and were as follows : 

" Owing to the exertions of His Excellency, General of Division, 
Thi6bault, governor of Old Castille, the remains of the Cid and those of 
Ximena, with the fragments of their tomb, were gathered together and 
brought to this place." 

On the end corresponding with the heads of the two figures : 

AnnoMDCCCIX. 
Regnante 
Josepho Napoleone. 
Lastly, on the opposite end, were these words : 

Quibuscumque temporibus, 

populis, locis, 

sic inclitum virorum 

memori : colenda est. 

The demolition and restoration of the tomb had deprived it of much of 
its antique character. But no less gratitude was due to those who had 
preserved the, fragments. The monument was placed in a public prome- 
nade, with good effect. 

Whatever may be the date of its construction, it was certainly long 
after the death of the Cid, which took place in the twelfth century. It is 
well known also that at that period armorial bearings were not used ; 
they are not met with much before the fifteenth century. 



THE CORTES. 579 



Madrid were assembled there to receive him. A great number of 
carriages containing the principal inhabitants of the capital were 
drawn up on each side of the road. The satisfaction which was 
visible on the faces of the people, and their frequent acclamations, 
made this day a pleasant one to the King. 

He was not so well pleased with the view taken of his return by 
the Cortes of Cadiz, nor with the inferences drawn by their news- 
papers. " Joseph's journey to Paris," said the latter, " not hav- 
ing resulted in any modification of the system adopted by Napo- 
leon towards Spain, it is clear, on the one hand, that the Emperor 
persists in those designs, though he delays carrying them out 
(which appears to confirm the rumour of an impending rupture 
with Russia) ; and, on the other hand, that Joseph is more than 
ever a puppet, without power and without authority, either be- 
cause he has been shamefully deceived, or that he is in league with 
his brother. On either hypothesis, Joseph can only be an object 
of profound contempt to all Spaniards who love the independence 
and honour of their country." 

It is easy to understand that arguments such as these in the 
organs of the National party, based as they were on notorious and 
indisputable facts, produced an impression on public opinion in 
Spain, highly unfavourable to the Government and person of the 
King. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The military situation — A Committee is formed to prepare the convoca- 
tion of the Cortes — Union of Catalonia to the French empire — Immi- 
nent rupture between France and Russia — Unfortunate result of this 
with respect to the effective force in Spain— The English occupy the 
fortified bridges on the Tagus — Organisation of fresh bands of Gueril- 
las—Famine in Madrid — Discouragement among the French troops — 
Valencia surrenders to Marshal Suchet, and Ciudad-Rodrigo to the 
Duke of Wellington — Before setting out on his Russian campaign, the 
Emperor gives instructions for regulating the military and political 
affairs of Spain — The English take Badajoz and threaten both North 
and South at once — Marshal Soult refuses to obey the King's orders 
— Marshals Suchet and Marmont follow his example — M. Deslandes, 
the King's private secretary, is killed while on a journey by the gueril- 
las — Cruelties practised by the guerilla bands — Endeavours to convene 
the Cortes — The English act on the offensive against Marshal Marmont 
— The King, at the head of reinforcements drawn from the Army of 
the Centre, goes to the help of the Duke of Ragusa— Before he can 
reach the Marshal, the latter joins battle with the English and is de- 
feated and wounded — Disastrous consequences of this defeat — The 
King crosses the Sierra dc Guadarrama, and returns to Madrid. 

Before proceeding farther I shall give a brief sketch of the situ-^ 
ation of military affairs at the time of our return to Madrid. 

The principal active troops in Spain, consisted at that time of 
five distinct corps. The Army of the South, the so-called Army 
of Portugal, which retained its name although it no longer held a 
single village in Portugal ; the Army of Arragon comprising our 
troops in Catalonia. These three corps formed four fifths of the 
French troops in Spain. The two others, the Army of the North 
and the Army of the Centre, were only capable of acting as 
auxiliaries to the three large corps. 

The Army of the South, the most powerful of all, numbering 
70,000 to 80,000 men, was commanded by Marshal Soult ;* that 
of Portugal numbering 50,000 to 60,000, by Marshal Marmont, 
and the third, of 40,000 or 50,000, was commanded by Marshal 
Suchet. f The Army of the Centre, with the Royal Guard, and 

* These troops consisted of the remains of the corps of the expedition 
to Portugal, estimated at 30,000 men, and of the troops that had remained 
to garrison the fortresses on the Spanish frontier. 

t He had just obtained his marshal's baton. 



. THE EFFECTIVE FORCE. 58 1 

the few Spanish troops in the King's service, amounting to 15,000 
men, was under the immediate command of the King, whose 
headquarters were in Madrid. Lastly, the Army of the North, 
whose headquarters were at Vittoria, and which, formerly com- 
manded by Marshal Bessieres, was now under General Caffarelli, 
numbered barely 12,000 men. Thus the entire French force then 
in Spain did not amount altogether to more than 200,000 men fit 
for service. 

The Army of the South occupied Andalusia, and still carried 
on the siege of Cadiz, but was making no progress. The strategy 
of the English, who, after Massena' s retreat had shown themselves 
in the neighbourhood of Badajoz, had made it necessary to detach 
a corps of 20,000 from this force, and despatch them into Estre- 
madura. Marshal Soult had placed himself at their head and had 
fought, on the preceding 15 th of May, a sharp engagement with 
the enemy on the banks of the Albuera, the indecisive issue of 
which was counted by the English as a victory. After this unsuc- 
cessful encounter, Soult had returned to Seville. 

The Army of Portugal, whose headquarters since its return to 
Spain had been fixed at Salamanca, stretched beyond the Tagus, 
and could unite with the Army of the South in Estremadura. Its 
commander, the Duke of Ragusa, was constructing forts to defend 
the passage across the river. 

Marshal Suchet, commanding the Army of Arragon, and hold- 
ing Tortosa, had, after a bloody siege, obtained possession of 
Tarragona. He was advancing on Murviedro (the ancient Sagona) 
and threatening Valencia. 

The Armies of the Centre and North took no part in these vari- 
ous movements. 

From what I have just said, it will be seen, that at the time of 
our return to Spain, the French armies, with the exception of that 
of Arragon, were standing, in some sort, on the defensive. In fact 
everything was, necessarily, in suspense, until the English in 
Portugal should make their next move. On the direction taken 
by them, would depend our own movements. Would they ad- 
vance into Andalusia in order to raise the siege of Cadiz? or 
towards the centre of Spain, so as to drive us from the capital ? 
Until they decided on one course or the other, we could only re- 
main on the watch, and prepared to oppose the execution of either 
plan of campaign. It was evident, moreover, that the Army of the 
South only was fitted to oppose them with any chance of success ; 
the Army of Portugal was not strong enough to baffle their plans, 
and should it be itself threatened by them it was needful that the 
Army of the South should be able to supply immediate reinforce- 
ments. It was with these views that all our military arrangements 



582, MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

were made. The sequel will show how they were frustrated by a 
series of blunders and misunderstandings, and what reverses resulted 
from these fatal differences among our military chiefs. 

While awaiting the renewal of hostilities, the King endeavoured 
to rouse the spirits of the people, and to inspire them with a confi- 
dence that seemed justified by his return. In the first Council of 
State, held on the 2d of August, he spoke of the hope of peace, 
and of plans favourable to Spain that had been formed by the Em- 
peror, and which the pacification of Europe would enable him to 
carry out. Then, starting from these favourable auspices, he 
alluded to a period near at hand, when the nation itself would be 
called on to take part in establishing an order of things, by which 
the consolidation of the State would be promoted. " Therefore," 
he continued, ' ' we must prepare at once for a convocation of the 
Cortes, not such as they existed formerly, nor even as they were 
organised by the constitution of Bayonne, but more numerous, 
and so composed that the most distinguished men of the nation, 
without respect to party, should be included among them ; to 
summon, in short, a truly national representation, whose number 
should be unlimited, and which could lawfully decide the fate of 
Spain. ' ' 

Nothing could be better calculated to impress the people than 
such a declaration as this. The acknowledgment of the nation's 
right to constitute itself, must necessarily be well received, and the 
King sealed it, as it were, by immediately appointing a committee 
of five Councillors of State, who were to draw up a project for the 
convocation of the Cortes on the basis he had indicated in his 
speech. But circumstances were not favourable to the benevolent 
intentions of the King. However sincere in their expression, he 
was destined never to have it in his power to carry them out, and 
this gleam of popularity shone for a moment and then vanished, 
never to return. The annexation of Catalonia to the French Em- 
pire, which the Emperor was declaring almost at the very moment 
when the King was pledging himself at Madrid to a totally op- 
posite course, made the realisation of his wishes more impossible 
than ever.* And even supposing, which was very improbable, 

* The union of Catalonia with the French empire had been announced 
to the King, without further formality, by a letter from the Prince de 
Neuchatel, in the beginning of September 181 1. Subsequently, in 
March 1812, the French ambassador officially communicated the decrees 
relating to the annexation of the principality. For the purposes of ad- 
ministration, it was divided into four departments, of which the capital 
towns were Barcelona, Serida, Leria, and Tarragona. One of these de- 
partments bore the name of Bouches-de-rEbre ; I do not recollect the 
names ot the others. Prefects and sub-prefects, and the other necessary 
officials arrived from France. Among thera was M. Dudon, whose ex- 



. COOLNESS WITH RUSSIA. 583 

that the Emperor would depart from the principles on which he 
had hitherto governed Spain, the power of regulating the fate of 
that country was about to slip from his own as well as from his 
brother' s grasp. 

During our sojourn in Paris, we had had opportunities of observ- 
ing the first symptoms of a growing coolness between the Cabinets 
of the Tuileries and St. Petersburg. Since our departure these 
clouds had thickened, and a communication made to the King in 
the beginning of September by the French Ambassador, prepared 
us for a probably impending rupture. The Duke of Bassano, the 
then Minister of Exterior Relations, had written a letter on the 
27th of August to M. de Laforet, which he authorised him to 
show, confidentially, to the King. I read this despatch, which 
gave particulars of a conversation at the Trianon on the 25th of 
August, the fete-day of the Empress, between the Emperor and 
Prince Kourakin, the Russian Ambassador. The conversation, 
which had taken place in the presence of the whole court, was to 
the following effect. 

The Emperor had begun by attacking Prince Kourakin on the 
recent military encounters between Russia and the Porte. " I 
cannot," he said, " look on the last affair (pn August 4 th) as a vic- 
tory. You preserved no communications beyond the Danube ; 
you were obliged to retreat to the left bank of that river, and there 
was therefore no victory. In a somewhat similar position, after 
Essling, I considered myself victorious, because I remained master 
of the island of Lobau. But what astonishes me most is that, after 
such doubtful victories, and involved in a war of uncertain issue, 
your Government, instead of despatching all your troops to the 
theatre of war, should hold back a large proportion in order to 
station them on the western frontiers of Russia. I am like the 
Child of Nature ; when I cannot explain a thing by real and obvi- 
ous causes, I always suppose some extraordinary motive. What 
is the meaning of this massing of troops in the direction of 
Poland ? Am I to be coerced into abandoning the system I have 
setup.? I know Russia's claims on the Duchy of Oldenburg; 
I am ready to make all the compensation that may be desired ; 
but I will not yield an inch of Poland ; nothing that has been 
united to France shall be taken from her. On any other basis, I 
am ready to open negotiations. I will appoint some one to treat 
with you, if you have full powers from your Court." 

M. Kourakin having replied that he had none, but that he 
would hasten to obtain them, the Emperor resumed. * ' I know 

treme opinions have since obtained for him an evil notoriety. I had 
known him in Paris as auditor of the Council of State. 



584 , MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of the manifesto," said he, " that Russia has despatched to every 
Court. I refused to receive it, so that I might have the right to 
forget it. Thus there is yet time, otherwise I shall be obliged to 
call in the conscription of 181 2." 

In the rest of his despatch the Duke of Bassano endeavoufed to 
lessen the impression that must necessarily have been made by this 
hostile declaration, which had already received a kind of semi-pub- 
licity, but the blow had been struck. In vain did the Minister assert 
that all had passed in a friendly spirit, and that during the rest of the 
evening Prince Kourakin had been treated with more than usual 
courtesy ; the facts were apparent ; it was impossible not to discern 
a declaratioii of war in this curious communication, or to reflect 
without dismay, on the influence which even the possibility of such 
an event must exercise over Spain. 

We soon experienced it. Far from sending us help in men and 
money, the Emperor began, on various pretexts, to withdraw from 
the Peninsula all the remaining detachments of his Guard, and a 
large proportion of cavalry. At the same time our infantiy was 
weakened by the recall of some of the sub-officers, who were ordered 
to France to form the nucleus of new regiments consisting princi- 
pally of conscripts. While our various corps were thus being more 
or less reduced, our enemies were, on the contrary, augmenting 
their forces, and their spirits were rising at the prospect of the 
powerful diversion in their favour now being prepared in the North 
of Europe. 

The English could not allow so favourable an opportunity for en- 
tering on another campaign to escape them. In the beginning of 
October 181 1, they threatened Ciudad-Rodrigo, and the Army of 
Portugal was soon obliged to retreat from Estremadura and to fall 
back on the Tagus. The detachment that had been stationed in 
Estremadura was subsequently replaced by a corps of about 15,000 
men, despatched thither under General Drouet, by Marshal Souit. 
But this corps had orders not to cross the Tagus, and yet it was 
only by its junction with the Army of Portugal that the latter could 
be enabled to withstand the combined forces of the English and 
the Portuguese. This want of unanimity was fatal, and it greatly 
contributed to the failure of our operations. 

The first moves of the English were strongly supported by the 
appearance of guerilla bands, organized by the new government at 
Cadiz, and which now showed themselves more frequently than 
ever in the environs, and even on the promenades of Madrid. * 

* On January nth, 1812, a detachment of the band of the Medico, a 
famous guerilla chief, appeared at very little distance from the Atocha 
Gate, in the Promenade de Las Delicias, and attacked the persons there, 
killing some and wounding others. 



GROWING TROUBLE. 585 

A column of the Royal Guards marched from the capital and suc- 
ceeded in scattering them. But no sense of security was re-estab- 
Jished, and the same bands that were defeated and dispersed on one 
point, would suddenly form again at another, and keep both in- 
habitants and troops in a state of continual alarm. 

On the other hand, the famine that had been foreboded in the 
beginning of 181 1, from the high price of bread in Madrid, became 
general at the end of the year, throughout the capital and its 
environs. The Army of Portugal, in ascending the Tagus, had 
consumed all the breadstuffs on its route, and had exhausted the 
provinces of Toledo and Talavera, which partly supplied Madrid 
with provisions, while the guerilla bands scattered in La Mancha 
and in the province of Cuen9a intercepted all convoys on their way 
to us. The price of bread rose to such a height in Madrid that it 
became unattainable by the lower and middle classes, * and we wit- 
nessed the fearful spectacle of men actually dying of starvation in 
the streets, f 

Scarcely five months had elapsed since our return, and we had 
already sunk, as the reader sees, into the same position that had 
forced us to leave Madrid. The same financial difficulties, the 
same scarcity of food, the same political situation, generals as in- 
dependent as before of the King's authority, no plan on which to 
work, and, supposing one had been formed, the same difficulty of 
execution, so long as one powerful and uncontested authority did 
not direct every effort and every endeavour towards one common 
end. Moreover, we had lost all hope of improvement, and even 
the delusions that had formerly sustained us. However, as yet, 
no military event of any importance had taken place. At the end 
of 181 1, the campaign was scarcely opened, but discouragement was 
already spreading among the troops ; to the accustomed ardour of 
the French soldier had succeeded lax discipline, dislike to the 
country, and weariness of a long war in detail, which offered a 
series of dangers without glory. Everything, in fact, foreboded the 
share that Spain was to have in the disasters that fell upon France 

* The price of bread, reduced to French money, and carefully calcu- 
lated, rose at the end of i8n and the beginning of 1812 to 20 and even 
to 25 sous the pound of 14 ounces. But on June i6th, 18 12, the price in 
Madrid was 5 reals and a half, that is i franc 22 cents, at the exchange 
for 26 cents for i real ; a pound of 16 ounces thus costing i franc 484 m., 
or 30 sous less 2 centimes. 

f The resignation and patience of the population of Madrid were very 
remarkable during the famine. There were no disturbances, and the 
small quantity of bread offered for sale on the market place, where, on 
account of its high price, there were no buyers, was quietly carried back 
by the sellers through starving crowds, who allowed it to pass them with- 
out opposition. 



586 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

during the year 1812, one of the most fatal years recorded in the 
annals of the country. 

The year, however, began in Spain with a brilliant victory. At 
Murviedro, towards the end of October, Marshal Suchet, after de- 
feating a Spanish army of 23,000' men that had been gathered 
together by General Blake for the defence of Valencia, had 
marched on that city, one of the most important in Spain, and 
noted for the fertility of the surrounding country and for its agri- 
cultural pursuits. During December, while the siege artillery was 
being brought from Arragon, the French seized the suburb on the 
left bank of the Guadalaviar, and, after an obstinate resistance, the 
Port of Valencia and Grao. On the 26th of December the city 
was completely invested. Trenches were opened on the night of 
the I St of January, 1812, and the bombardment was begun on the 
5th, and continued throughout the night. On the morning of the 
6th, Marshal Suchet offered a capitulation. This was declined by 
General Blake, who after an unsuccessful attempt to come out of 
Valencia at the head of his army, had been driven back, and had 
resumed the command of the town. The bombardment was then 
renewed with increased vigour ; in three days and nights 2700 
shells were thrown into the town, setting it on fire several times. 
When, however, two batteries of ten twenty-four pounders, had 
been raised with incredible quickness, and were ready to make a 
breach in the last defences, when mines had been made under the 
nearest houses of the suburbs and connected with the two principal 
gates, while our troops were preparing for an assault, General Blake 
thought it his duty to spare a populous and flourishing town from 
the horrors of being taken by storm. He accepted the conditions 
he had refused a few days before, and signed the capitulation on 
the 9th of January. The whole Spanish army in Valencia, num- 
bering even then 18,000 men, were our prisoners, including 
twenty-two generals, among whom was Blake, the Captain -General 
and member of the Regency. An immense spoil in guns and 
ammunition also fell into our hands. Never since the beginning 
of the war had the Spaniards suffered so terrible a reverse. By 
the capitulation of Valencia they lost almost all their remaining 
officers of any distinction, and almost all their regular troops. 

An Imperial decree of the 24th of January, 181 2, conferred 
on Marshal Suchet the title of Duke of Albufera, and the reward 
was certainly deserved, for the conquest of Valencia was due solely 
to the talents and activity of the Marshal, and he accomplished it 
with means that appeared insufficient for the great result he ob- 
tained. For, although Marshal Marmont had detached a corps 
of cavalry, under General Montbrun to support the operations of 
the Army of Arragon, "all was over before it reached the field of 



MARSHAL SUCHET. 58/ 



battle. Thus the glory acquired in this campaign by Marshal 
Suchet has remained his own entirely. Moreover, military men 
blamed the movement thus made by the Duke of Ragusa, who, 
without consultation with Marshal Suchet, diminished the strength 
of his army at a time when he needed his whole force to oppose an 
enemy by whom he might expect to be specially attacked. And 
it happened in fact that the English, having, towards the middle of 
January, invested Ciudad-Rodrigo, Marshal Marmont found him- 
self unable, through the diminished numbers of his army, to suc- 
cour that fortress, * which surrendered to Wellington at the end of 
January after a formal siege of nine days. In informing the King 
of this, the Duke of Ragusa attributed the fall of the town to the 
inefficient defence of the Commandant of Ciudad-Rodrigo, who 
had shut himself up, he said, in a church. Such excuses are 
often made by generals in order to cast the blame due to circum- 
stances, or to consequences of their own blunders, on their inferi- 
ors. But no one was deceived. The truth was — and in Madrid 
it was in everybody's mouth — that if the Duke of Ragusa had 
acted in accordance with his instructions from Paris, and had not 
sent a large detachment of his army to Valencia, even hesitating, 
it was said, whether he should not place himself at its head in 
order to wrest the glory of victory from Marshal Suchet, he could 
have given his mind more completely to the English, who should 
have been his chief concern, and would probably have been able 
to prevent the loss of so important a stronghold. This debut was 
not calculated to inspire any great confidence in the military abil- 
ity of the young Marshal, who until then had held no command 
in chief, who had not distinguished himself by any brilliant ac- 
tion, and who owed the high position in which he had succeeded 
one of the most illustrious captains of the time, solely to the Em- 
peror' s partiality for one of his own pupils. 

After the reduction of Ciudad-Rodrigo, where they had left a 
strong garrison, the English recrossed the Agueda and withdrew to 
Portugal. Thence they soon returned to the left bank of the Ta- 
gus, and advanced by way of Alentejo on Badajoz, to which they 
purposed laying siege. On this Marshal Marmont again spread 
his forces towards the Tagus, thus completely exhausting the prov- 
ince of Toledo. The rest of his army remained on the Tormes. 
In this position he waited for the further proceedings of the Eng- 

* The Army of Portugal, which even after the departure of Montbrun 
was insufficient to cope with the English, had been further reduced by- 
supplying garrisons to the two fortresses constructed at great expense by 
Marshal Marmont. These were situated in advance of the Almaraz and 
Arzobispo bridges on the Tagus. They were intended to defend the pasr 
sage of the river, but were of no use. 



588 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. . 

lish, with insufficient forces, as has been seen, on every point, and 
unable to offer effective opposition to the enemy, whether they at- 
tacked Badajoz or Salamanca. 

Meanwhile the differences that had arisen 'between Russia and 
France, far from diminishing, assumed a more serious character 
every day. All our accounts from Paris announced an impending 
rupture and the approaching departure of the Emperor. He could 
not however leave France without taking some decisive measures 
with regard to Spain, nor was it long before we knew his decision 
concerning us. We were informed of it by a letter from the Prince 
de Neuchatel, dated the 1 8th of February, 1 8 1 2, and received by 
the King on the 8th of March. He communicated its contents to 
us. The Prince wrote, that in the event of the Emperor's being 
obliged by circumstances to proceed to Poland, he intended to 
confer the command of all the armies then in Spain on the King, 
and to give him Marshal Jourdan as his Major- General. The 
Emperor also promised a subsidy of one million (;^4o, 000) per 
month during the year 1812, and sixteen millions (;^640, 000), 
out of the contribution of fifty millions (^2,000,000) that he had 
levied on the city of Valencia. The letter contained in addition 
some military directions. The Army of Portugal was ordered to 
evacuate Talavera and to fall back on the Tormes, and, as this 
movement would cut off its communication with Estremadura, it 
was to be succeeded in its various posts by detachments from the 
Army of the Centre. Shortly afterwards, on the 2d of April, an 
officer of the Prince de Neuchatel arrived at Madrid with a letter 
to the King, dated the i6th of March, in which the Prince con- 
firmed his previous letter, and announced, in addition, that the 
Emperor would make known the policy to be followed in Spanish 
affairs to the King through his ambassador at Madrid, and as to 
military operations, the Prince purposed writing fully on the sub- 
ject on the following day. Thus the Emperor, on the eve of de- 
parture for the campaign in Russia, was acting towards Spain 
much as he had acted in 1808, when he left Madrid, first in pur- 
suit of the English, and then to proceed to Germany, whither he 
was called by the war in Austria. He hastened to the point of 
greatest danger, and seized on the quickest and simplest plan of 
regulating the affairs of Spain. But what a task he was commit- 
ting to the King in his then position, in the midst of a devastated 
country and a famine-stricken capital ! What were the chances of 
success, when all the elements of action were at variance the one 
with the other ? With Marshals accustomed for three years to ab- 
solute independence, and a Major-General who, notwithstanding 
his military ability, was not in the Emperor's good graces, and 
consequently possessed no authority ovei" the heads of the 



THE emperor's INSTRUCTIONS. 589 

army,* I foresaw nothing but reverses succeeded by a retreat, 
which, if not disgraceful, would at least be inglorious. Far from 
rejoicing at this pretended mark of confidence, it inspired me with 
a sense of alarm. I did not conceal my disgust, but the King 
took a less gloomy view of the subject. He was still hopeful ; 
besides, how could he refuse ? By returning to Spain he had sub- 
mitted beforehand to every demand, and it was too late to retreat. 

A few days later the French ambassador, as the Prince of Neu- 
chatel had previously informed us, handed to the King the Em- 
peror's instructions concerning the policy to be followed in Spain. 
They were written in a rather diffuse style, and were unsigned. 

** The Spaniards must be sick of war. Famine, poverty, and 
the ills inflicted on them either by the French and English, or 
even by their own defenders, the guerillas, more injurious to them 
than regular troops, must have made them feel the necessity for 
putting an end to all these calamities. You must take advantage 
of this state of feeling, in which we suppose them to be, and either 
by addresses presented by the principal State Bodies and the Mu- 
nicipalities, or by writings skilfully directed against the English, 
but always sparing (note this) the French, of whom no evil must 
be said, bring about the meeting of a national assembly under the 
name of Cortes-Extraordinary, to counterbalance the Cortes of 
Cadiz. The assembly might be composed of eight hundred per- 
sons, carefully chosen, among whom might even be admitted dep- 
uties from the Cadiz Cortes, if any could be induced to come. 
Deputies would be summoned from Castille, Andalusia, the King- 
dom of Valencia and Galicia. The Emperor would not object 
even to Catalonia, Navarre, and Guipuscoa being represented, al- 
though he considers that no change must be attempted in the 
form of Government of those provinces (note this point also). 

"The Cortes being thus composed and assembled, could in six 
weeks' time draw up a constitution such as that of the Cadiz 
Cortes, f which is, in fact, only a copy of that of Bayonne, with 
the exception of certain fanciful alterations which are now in fash- 
ion, and which must be conceded. 

' ' Matters being thus arranged, the Emperor would not hesitate 
to declare that he and the King were perfectly agreed. The in- 
dependence and integrity of the Spanish territory would be main- 

* In the preceding year the Emperor had struck off Marshal Jourdan's 
name from the list of the Marshals of the Empire published in the Impe- 
rial Almanac. This act of injustice was afterwards repaired, but it had 
nevertheless been injurious to the Marshal's reputation. 

f The constitution of the Cortes was not published at Cadiz until the 
i8th of March, 1812 ; but the draft was known in Paris, and had under- 
gone some unimportant alterations only in passing through the assembly. 



590 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tained, and the French troops would be withdrawn by degrees, as 
their presence ceased to be necessary to the country. " ^ 

The above suggestions, greatly diluted, ,were accompanied by 
some not very clear explanations. It was evident that a way of 
escape, in the matter of interpretation, was contrived. Moreover 
the Spanish Ministry were severely reproached ; they had done 
nothing right ; they had profited by nothing ; they had not con- 
vened the Cortes in time ; in short the accusations were character- 
ised by that good faith which usually prevails in the dealings of 
the strong with the weak. 

The reader can see, by this inexplicable document, which 
pointed out no practicable path, that the Emperor feigned approv- 
al of the views manifested by the King on his return to Madrid, 
and appeared to revert to the ideas he had himself communicated 
in Paris to the Marquis d'Almenara, of which I have already 
spoken. But if they were inadmissible a year previously, they were . 
much more so at the time when they were again brought forward. 
The note was therefore nothing but a delusion, and the ambassa- 
dor' s caution in not signing it, proved that the Emperor had per- 
ceived its ridiculous side, and would never have owned it 

Such was the assistance offered to us in our difficulties. As for 
the policy to be followed in military affairs, on which it was much 
more essential that the Emperor should explain himself, the prom- 
ised directions on that subject were long delayed, and the reader 
will shortly see to what they were reduced. « 

Yet they had never been more needed. Our enemies were grow- ^ 
ing stronger on every side. The English were besieging Badajoz, 
and an -attempt by Marshal Soult to succour that city had failed. 
The town surrendered on the yth of April, before the troops under 
the Duke of Dalmatia had reached the Guadiana. Marshal Mar- 
mont, who should have contributed to the success of Soult' s 
movements by advancing to the Tagus and thence into Estrema- 
dura, kept strictly, on this occasion, to his instructions from Paris. 
He remained on the Tormes, but took it into his head to make a 
diversion in favour of the Army of the South, by entering Portugal. 
What an idea ! how could he hope to draw away the English from 
the siege of Badajoz, by showing himself on the frontier of a coun- 
try into which he could not attempt to penetrate, after having al- 
lowed Ciudad-Rodrigo to fall into the enemy' s hands ? His dem- 
onstration had not the slightest effect on the English, and the 
Duke of Ragusa, on hearing of the fall of Badajoz, hastened back 
across the Agueda and the Coa, in order to regain his positions on 
the line to Salamanca. Marshal Soult, on the other hand, with- 
drew hastily into Andalusia, where the appearance of a Spanish 
army under General Ballesteros, called urgently for his presence ; 



THE king's arrangements. 59 1 



and as it was natural to suppose that the English would pursue 
him, the King sent commands to the Duke of Ragusa to draw 
near the Tagus, and to be prepared at any moment to cross the 
river by the Almaraz bridge. Scarcely however had these orders 
been despatched, when letters were received from Marshal Mar- 
mont, announcing that the enemy had sent forward five divisions 
on the right bank of the Tagus, and was advancing on the Coa, 
occupying Pinhel and Lamago ; and that his headquarters were at 
Fuente-Grimaldo. The English seemed therefore to be threaten- 
ing not the South but the North. The first orders were conse- 
quently countermanded, and it became necessary to put the Army 
of Portugal in a state to oppose them, and to accept a battle with 
advantage. The King, therefore, ordered the Duke of Dalmatia 
to raise Count d'Erlon's corps in Estremadura to 20,000 men, 
and to be prepared to despatch this reinforcement across the Ta- 
gus to the help of the Army of Portugal. 

Such was the state of affairs in the month of May, 181 2. The 
English, -who were masters of Ciudad-Rodrigo and Badajoz, were 
free to attack either Soult or Marmont But although their re- 
cent movements seemed to point to the latter course, they had 
not yet shown their hand sufficiently to preclude all uncertainty. 
And before actually coming to a decision, they intended to occupy 
the passages of the Tagus that we had fortified, so as to cut off 
direct communication between the armies of the South, and of 
Portugal, and to force them to fight separately. They succeeded 
in their plan, and obtained possession, at the end of May, of the 
forts constructed by the Duke of Ragusa, and afterwards of the 
bridge at Almaraz. 

This successful attack, of which we were informed on the 29th 
of May by a letter from General Foy, threw Madrid into a state of 
alarm, and our enemies in the city, that is to say the majority of 
the inhabitants, began to hope, as they had hoped three years 
before, for the coming of the English. But the moment had not 
yet arrived. Lord Wellington would not have made such a mis- 
take as to enter Madrid, before he had defeated one of the two 
armies that might surprise and drive him from it. During part of 
the month of June, therefore, the English remained in the advan- 
tageous positions they were holding, and concentrated all their 
forces and means of war. As for us, we remained on the defen- 
sive, observing their movements, and the King made the following 
disposition of his resources. 

It had long been admitted that the Army of Portugal would be 
unable, if attacked by the English, to cope with their superior 
forces. It was therefore necessary to provide reinforcements, and 
the corps under Count d'Erlon, still in Estremadura, was best 



592 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

able and could most quickly come to its assistance. The orders 
that had been already given, to augment that corps and keep it in 
readiness to cross the Tagus were therefore renewed, more posi- 
tively than before. But neither Marshal Jourdan's letters, nor 
even the King's, could induce the Duke of Dalmatia to obey. He 
declared that if Count d'Erlon's corps were detached from his 
army, it would be impossible for him to answer for Andalusia. 
He even proposed that the King should come and join him there,* 
if he did not think himself able to hold Madrid. In short, all the 
King' s authority, whether as Sovereign, or as Commander-in-chief 
of all the forces in Spain, failed to shake the obstinate determina- 
tion of the Marshal, who offered to resign rather than yield the 
point, and Count d'Erlon's corps remained where it was. 

The King had, at the same time, requested Marshal Suchet to 
send a detachment of his force to protect Madrid, so as to enable 
him to withdraw part of the Army of the Centre from the capital 
and its environs, and despatch it to the help of the Army of Portu- 
gal, if all other means of reinforcement should fail, but in this 
direction too, he was unsuccessful. Marshal Suchet replied that 
his troops barely sufficed to maintain his conquest, and that, far 
from being able to spare any, he himself needed reinforcements. 
He informed the King, moreover, that the Emperor had bestowed 
on him exclusively, the command of Catalonia, Aragon, and the 
kingdom of Valencia, and had directed him to employ the troops 
under his orders for the defence of those provinces only. Like 
Marshal Soult, he concluded by offering to resign. The Army of 
Aragon was therefore independent of the Commander-in-chief, 
and exempt from the King's authority. 

This extraordinary arrangement. Marshal Soult' s refusal to 
obey the orders of the Major-General, the independence exhibited 
by the Duke of Ragusa, who had gone so far as to shut the gates 
of Talavera on Amoroz,f a Councillor of State, who had been 
sent thither to concert measures for provisioning Madrid, J the ex- 
cesses committed by some officers of the Army of Portugal, who 
were arbitrarily levying taxes even in the provinces occupied by 

* It is needless to say that this proposition was declined. Had the 
King accepted it, he would have been entirely separated from France, 
and it had been particularly enjoined on him to maintain his communica- 
tions, 

f The same Amoroz who subsequently became known in Paris by his 
establishment for a new system of gymnastics. 

I The colonel of the 50th regiment of the line, belonging to the Army 
of Portugal, had taken possession of one of the districts of the province 
of Segovia, and had threatened to lead his troops against the French 
garrisons of some villages occupied by detachments from the Army of the 
Centre, if they attempted to oppose him. 



^ A CRITICAL POSITION. 593 

the Army of the Centre under the immediate command of the 
King ; all contributed to make the command-in-chief that had 
been bestowed upon him, a mere sham. There remained to him 
only the empty title, and the whole responsibility, from which 
there was no means of escape. 

In this critical position, the King wrote urgent letters to the 
Emperor and to the Prince of Neuchatel. But what replies could 
he hope for ? The Emperor was far away from Paris, * the Prince 
of Neuchatel had accompanied him, and before his departure had 
written a very short letter, in which, without giving any detailed 
instructions for the conduct of the war, he confined himself to 
these three points, " Defend the north of Spain, maintain the 
conquests already made and especially the communication with 
France, and keep on the defensive, until further orders. ' ' He 
neither defined the means of carrying out these directions, nor 
dictated our line of action in the event of our being attacked and 
defeated. It would seem also that these instructions were of so 
little value that they had not even been transmitted to the Duke of 
Dalmatia, since he obstinately refused to lend any help to the 
Army of Portugal, although this would evidently have entered into 
the plan enjoined on us by the Emperor. 

Amid these internal disorders, and misunderstandings that had 
already cost us more than one reverse, and which foreboded others 
of a still graver nature, private troubles were increasing. The 
guerilla-bands, now more audacious than ever, frequently sur- 
prised and plundered our convoys. A very important one, strongly 
escorted, and including M. Deslandes, the King's private secre- 
tary, who was on his way to Paris with his wife, was attacked on 
the 6th of April, 18 12, between Sahnas and Vittoria. f M. Des- 
landes was killed in defending his wife who fell into the hands of 
the famous guerilla chief, Don Francisco Espoz y Mina. l The 
King was painfully affected by this event. He had a great and 
well-deserved esteem for M. Deslandes, who possessed his entire 
confidence, and was the bearer of letters from the King which were 
seized on him.§ As for myself, his death caused me the deepest 
grief. No man ever had stronger claims to the regret of those 
who knew him than M. Deslandes. Placed in a very difficult po- 

* He had left Paris for the Russian campaign on the 9th of June. 

f The attack has been made the subject of a painting, by General 
Lycinne, which was exhibited at the Louvre, 

t Mina, one of whose sisters was at that time a prisoner at Pampe- 
luna, wrote to the King, and offered to exchange Madame Deslandes for 
his sister. 

§ They were addressed to various members of the King's family, and 
although such letters should have been respected, were published in the 
Cadiz newspapers. 



594 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

sition, he never used his influence except for the benefit of those 
who had recourse to him. His upright character and kind heart 
deserved a better fate. 

Shortly after this tragic event, the city of Burgos was surprised 
by another band, and the hospital burned. Cuen9a also was oc- 
cupied* for a short time by a great number of guerillas under the 
orders of the Empecinado, f a chieftain no less famous than Mina. 
Baron Bourdon, whom the King had just sent th^ere in the capac- 
ity of Royal Commissioner, perished in the massacres and dis- 
orders of all kinds that ensued. 

The fury displayed by the guerilla-bands, their cruelty and their 
excesses of all kinds, proved the height to which hatred and exas- 
peration against the French had attained, and these sentiments 
were felt and expressed on all sides by nearly the whole nation, 
whose hopes were encouraged by our reverses and by the war with 
Russia. It was therefore almost puerile to attempt to cany out 
the plan indicated by the Emperor in the note his ambassador 
had handed to the King ; that of convening an assembly of 
Cortes-Extraordinary. Some attempts in that direction were nev- 
ertheless made, some pamphlets were disseminated, and some 
newspaper articles written to prepare the public mind. A solemn 
deputation from the district and municipality of Madrid came to 
the Palace on the 7th of May, and presented an address asking 
for the Convocation. But steps evidently suggested, articles writ- 
ten for hire, and intrigues which deceived nobody, could be pro- 
ductive pi no result ; they completely failed of their object, and 
were soon given up. Arms alone could decide the question of 
our domination in Spain, or our complete expulsion from the 
country, and I have now only to give from documents lying be- 
fore me, and from events that I actually witnessed, the brief his- 
tory of the successive defeats that led to the latter result. 

Wellington, after leaving a considerable force under General 
Hill, to occupy the forts and bridges of the Tagus, crossed the 
Agueda at the head of the English army on the 12th of June, and 
advanced towards the Tormes. He entered Salamanca on the 
17th. The French had evacuated the town, leaving however a 
garrison in the citadel. As we had received no intelligence of 
Marshal Marmont since the movements of the English had become 
known, great anxiety prevailed for some days in Madrid. A letter 
from the Marshal, dated the 2 2d of June, at last reached the King 
on the ist of July, confirming all we had heard of the advance of 
the enemy. The Army of Portugal, retreating from the English, 

* This invasion of Cuen^a took place on the I2th of May, 1812. 

f Don Juan Martin, surnamed the Empecinado^ or ih^ pitch-coloured. 



THE ENGLISH ADVANCE. 595 

was concentrated on the right bank of the Douro, between Zamora 
and Toro, and the Marshal stated that he did not think himself 
sufficiently strong to attack the enemy, until he had received the 
expected reinforcements from the Army of the North. Yet it was 
impossible to believe that the English would delay their attack for 
any length of time, and a serious engagement appeared imminent. 
There was nothing to hope for from the Army of the South. 
The Duke of Dalmatia asserted that sooner or later the English 
would certainly march on Andalusia, although their movements 
contradicted this presumption. General Hill therefore had not 
been attacked on the Tagus, a diversion which might have set free 
the Army of Portugal, and even supposing he had crossed to the 
right bank of the river to join the main English army, Count Erlon 
had orders not to follow him. Thus, at any moment, the Army 
of Portugal might find itself assailed by the whole united forces of 
the enemy. 

In this extremity, the King resolved on procuring from the 
iArmy of the Centre the help he had been unable to obtain from 
the Army of the South, and on marching himself at the head of 
that reinforcement to join the Army of Portugal. He acquainted 
the Duke of Ragusa with his intentions, and took every possible 
means, compatible with the difficulty of correspondence, to ensure 
that the information should reach him. Moreover, the Marshal 
having stated that he would not act on the offensive until he had 
received the expected reinforcements from the Army of the North, 
the King calculated that he could arrive with his troops on the 
Douro at about the same time with those from the far more distant 
Army of the North. He reckoned, therefore, on finding Marmont 
on the Douro, and merely directed him to cross to the left bank, 
in order to meet him and to effect a junction between Peiia- 
Aranda and Arevalo. 

The King left Madrid on the 20th of July, at the head of 14,000 
men, excellent soldiers, and with good artillery. I accompanied 
him, and we passed the night of the 2 2d at the Escurial.* On 

* I had little leisure to examine this celebfated convent, accounts of 
which are met with, however, in every direction. A great part of the 
books and pictures it had formerly contained had been removed to Ma- 
drid. But th^ frescoes of Luca-Giordano remained. They are full of life, 
boldly conceived, and executed with ease, but wanting in correctness and 
grandeur. 

I went down into the Pantheon— the subterranean chapel containing 
the remains of the kings and queens of Spain. I saw their tombs, from 
Charles V. to Charles HI. At a short distance is a spot called the Pan- 
theon of the Infantes. The coffin of Don Carlos, son of Philip II., was 
open. The head, which I held in my hands, is separated from the body, 
and it seems evident that it had been cut off. The upper part of the 



59^ MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the 23d we crossed the Guadarrama mountain, and encamped 
on the 24th near the village of Blasco-Sancho, four leagues from 
Pena-Aranda, one of the spots indicated to the Duke of Ragusa 
for effecting our junction with his troops. We were surprised, 
however, to meet with no messenger from him. But as we had 
heard on our way of an engagement that was said to have taken , 
place near the Douro, * in which the French had had the advan- ^ 
tage, we naturally concluded that the Marshal, in conformity with 
his instructions, had crossed to the left bank of the Douro, and 
counting on a speedy meeting we advanced, full of hope and con- 
fidence. 

Orders were already issued for leaving Blasco-Sancho on the 
following day, when, towards evening, a peasant brought news that 
the Army of Portugal, after being beaten by the English near Sal- 
amanca, was now, the 24th of July, at Arevalo. f An express in- 
stantly despatched thither, and our departure, which had been 
ordered to take place at dawn, was delayed. But the return of our 
messenger at 8 a.m. on the 25th left us no room for doubt. He 
brought two letters, one from the Duke of Ragusa, the other from 
General Clausel, both dated Arevalo, the 24th of July. The 
former contained the following particulars : 

On the 1 8 th of July the Army of Portugal had crossed the 
Douro at Tordesillas. The English position at San Cristoval on 
the left bank of the river was turned, and they retreated with some 
haste. During the i8th, 19th, and 20th, the two armies had ad- 
vanced almost on parallel lines ; but the English having halted be- 
fore Salamanca, Marshal Marmont decided on crossing the Tormes, 
and took up his position on the left bank, behind Salamanca. 
The English, whose communication with Portugal would thus be 
entirely cut off, having no other alternative, determined to cross 
the Tormes by the Salamanca bridge, and to risk a battle which 
had become unavoidable. 

This took place near the village of Los Arapiles on the 2 2d of 
July. J The beginning of the action had been in favour of the 
French ; but our left wing having been spread too far in order to 

skull had been sawn. These circumstances, which have never been re- 
corded, to my knowledge, may perhaps throw some light on the mannei 
of the Prince's death. , 

* We subsequently learned that there had been an engagement between 
our vanguard at Castejou on the i8ih of July, and a detachment of Gen- 
eral Cotton's corps, in which we had had the advantage. 

f A town of some importance, four leagues from Pefia-Aranda on the 
road from Olmedo to Valladolid. 

X The Allied Army numbered about 70,000 men. English, 35,000 ; 
Portuguese, 20,000 ; Spaniards, 15,000. The Army of Portugal consisted 
of barely 55,000. 



HEAVY LOSSES. 597 



turn the enemy's position, was driven back by the Enghsh, and 
the battle was lost. Marshal Marmont was severely wounded by 
the bursting of a shell. Generals Thomire and Desgraviers were 
killed ; Generals Bonnet and Clausel wounded. Our losses were 
reckoned at over 7000 men, killed, wounded, and prisoners.* 
A-fter the battle. Marshal Clausel took command of the troops, 
md the French army hastily crossed the Tormes and marched on 
A.revalo and Olmedo so as to reach the road to Valladolid. 

General Clausel' s letter was still more distressing than that of 
the Duke of Ragusa. He stated that it was out of his power to 
ict on the offensive, even if reinforced by the King's troops, and 
he should continue his retreat without a halt, so as not to lose a 
march he had gained on the enemy, and to reach Valladolid be- 
fore them. Neither the Marshal nor the General seemed to have 
been aware, before the battle, of the King' s movements, and prob- 
ably neither of them would have thought of informing us of what 
had occurred, had we not sent an express to Arevalo. 

The reader may judge by this of the risk we had run. If we 
had not chanced to hear how matters were turning, we should 
have set out on the morning of the 25th for Pena-Aranda, where 
we should have found the enemy instead of the Army of Portugal. 
There was not a moment to lose in getting away from a position 
so full of danger. At noon we therefore left Blasco-Sancho for 
Lebajoz, so as to prepare as quickly as possible for our return over 
the Puerto de Guadarrama. 

During the march we were lost in conjectures as to the Duke 
of Ragusa' s motives for the unexpected movement he had made. 
After waiting five-and-twenty days on the right bank of the Douro 
for the help he had asked for from the Army of the North ; after 
having repeatedly written and protested that he was not strong 
enough to cope with the English army ; after having learned that 
the King was marching to his succour at the head of 14,000 men ; 
how was it that he suddenly decided on crossing the Douro .? how 
was it that, without having effected a junction, either with the 
troops coming from the North, or with those from Madrid, he had 
taken the offensive against the enemy who were in position on the 
left bank of the river, and who had made no sign of attacking 
him ? Even admitting that none of the King's numerous letters 
or messages had reached him, he could not, at any rate, be igno- 
rant that a detachment from the Army of the North was drawing 

* According to official despatches of Lord Wellington, the English losses 
were : killed, 694 ; wounded, 4270. The Portuguese lost 338 killed, and 
1648 wounded. The Spanish lost but 2 men killed and 4 wounded. But 
the allies captured eleven guns from the French and a considerable 
amount of ammunition and baggage. 



598 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

near, * and that if he prolonged only for four or five days the state 
of inactivity which he had maintained for nearly a month, he 
would receive such an increase of strength as would give him a 
decided numerical superiority over the enemy. Could it have 
been fear of losing the chief command which would have fallen to 
the King ? Could it have been the desire to keep and not share 
the glory of a victory, that had led him thus to sacrifice everything 
to personal vanity ? On this we would come to no decision, and 
it is a mystery to this day. But whatever may have been the 
Duke's secret motivesj and it would be rash to pronounce on 
them, his strategy cannot under the circumstances be justified in a 
military point of view. It has always been looked upon by mili- 
tary authorities as a great blunder ; and, in conclusion, whether it 
were a blunder or whether merely ill-fortune, few lost battles have 
had so fatal an influence on the destiny of a campaign as that of 
Los Arapiles. f 

After taking a few hours' rest at Lebajoz, we again set out with 
the intention of crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama on the morning 
of the 2 7th of July. But at some distance from the Venta de San- 
Rafael, at the foot of the mountain, we were joined by Colonel 
Fabvier, Marshal Marmont's aide-de-camp. He brought letters 
from the Duke of Ragusa and General Clausel, dated Olmedo, 
July 25th. Both writers urged the King to make a movement in 
favour of the Army of Portugal, by delaying the passage of the 
Guadarrama, so as to hold the enemy in check, and to lessen the 
speed of the pursuit, by dividing his attention. They intimated 
that if the King consented to their request the Army of Portugal 
could perhaps remain on the left bank of the Douro, and join the 
Army of the Centre. The King yielded, and, changing our route, 
we advanced towards Segovia. By this movement, generous 
rather than prudent, the capital was evidently endangered. The 
Puerto de Guadarrama, by which the enemy might reach Madrid 
if they chose to give up the pursuit of their defeated foes, was left 
unprotected, and they might enter the city, before we could take 
any steps either for its defence or its evacuation. 

We marched nevertheless to Segovia, where we remained three 
days. But having learned that the Army of Portugal was still in 
retreat, and had crossed the Douro, and being in ignorance as to 
whether the English were still in pursuit beyond the river, ve 
began to fear that they might fall on us with all their strength. 
We therefore deferred no longer our return to Madrid, and leaving 

* On the 20th of July the detachment in question was at Pallos, within 
three days' march of the Army of Portugal. 

f See Translators' note at the end of this chapter. 



LOS ARAPILES. 599 



Segovia on the 31st of July,* we crossed the Sierra de Guadarrama 
on the 1st of August and reached the capital on the 2d. 

* During the march from Segovia to the Guadarrama, the King 
received letters from Paris that had been found on a courier arrested by 
Lord Wellington's advanced guard, and which he had caused to be for- 
warded. They referred to family affairs. This act of soldierly courtesy 
on the part of the English general deserves to be recorded. Some news- 
papers found with the letters informed us that the French army had 
crossed the Niemen. 



Note by the Translators. 



The action of which Count Miot de Melito gives an account in this 
chapter, and to which he gives the title of ' The Battle of the Arapiles,' 
formed a portion of the general operations of the siege of Salamanca, 
and is described by the Duke of Wellington in his despatch of the 24th 
of July, 1812, addressed to Earl Bathurst, from Flores de Avila. (See 
' Selections from the Despatches and General Orders of Field Marshal 
the Duke of Wellington. By Lieut-Col. Gurwood.' Murray.) The 
whole despatch, which is deeply interesting, will be found in the Appen- 
dix. Its perusal may render Count Miot's narrative more clear to English 
readers, unaccustomed to a mention of a Battle of the Arapiles, among 
the events of the Peninsular War. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

j 
The English army crosses- the Sierra of Guadarrama, and occupies the 
plain which surrounds Madrid — The French evacuate the capital — The 
King at the head of the Army of the Centre, preceded by an immense 
convoy, withdraws towards Valencia — Sufferings of the troops and of 
the convoy during the march across La Mancha from heat and want of 
water — They reach the fertile plains of the kingdom of Valencia — The j 
King enters the city of Valencia — Accusations against the King con- j 
tained in a despatch from Marshal Soult to the Duke of Feltre, which 
falls accidentally into Joseph's hands — Colonel Desprez is sent on a 
mission to the Emperor— Marshal Soult evacuates Andalusia—Confer- 
ence between Soult and the King at Fuente de Higuera, in which it is 
decided that the Armies of the South and of the Centre shall unite with 
that of Portugal— The two first effect their junction at Ocafia — The 
English, after failing in their siege of the fortress of Burgos, fall back 
hastily on the Douro and evacuate Madrid — Excesses committed by 
them while retreating — The three Armies of the South, the Centre, and 
Portugal effect their junction at Pena-Aranda — Changes made by the 
King in the command of the army — Lord Wellington avoids an encoun- 
ter and retreats to Portugal — The three French armies enter the can- 
tonments assigned them by the King. 

Our return to the capital did not produce the impression that 
might have been caused had its reasons been known. The news 
of the lost battle of Arapiles had not as yet been made public, and 
the silence of the Madrid journals on the recent events, contributed 
to keep up a delusion, which for a few days it was undesirable to 
dispel. On leaving Segovia the King had sent formal commands 
to Marshal Soult to evacuate Andalusia, and if that order were 
punctually executed, the Army of the South would be enabled to 
join that of the Centre for the defence of the Capital, and even to 
act on the offensive if the English were still in pursuit of the Army 
of Portugal beyond the Douro. 

But all uncertainty was soon at an end, and the movements of the 
enemy became decisive. On the 8th of August, the troops we had 
left at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, descried the advanced 
guard of the Allied Army, and had only just time to fall back, 
before the numerous battalions of the enemy were poured out on 
the vast and barren plain extending from the mountains to Madrid. 
The evacuation of the capital was ordered. Only the posts were 
left at the gates, and a small detachment at the Retiro, quite un- 
able to defend it. 



PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 6oi 

The 9th of August was occupied with preparations for our de- 
parture in the midst of confusion and agitation difficult to de- 
scribe. All the French, and those among the Spaniards who were 
compromised and who had more to fear from the vengeance of 
their own countrymen than from the severity of the victors, has- 
tened to quit the city with their families. Many, without means 
of transport, or money to procure it, resolved to travel on foot. 
At daybreak on the loth of August, a convoy of three hundred 
conveyances of all sorts, followed by large crowds on foot, assem- 
bled at the Toledo Bridge, and escorted by two battalions of in- 
fantry took the road to Aranjuez.* The King left Madrid on the 
same day at the head of a corps of about 18,000 men^f and fixed 
his headquarters at Legafiez, two leagues from the capital, thus 
keeping to the right of the convoy, so as to cover it and to observe 
the movements of the enemy. On the following day, the nth, 
he removed to Alcorcon, and sent out a strong reconnoitring party 
to discover the real strength of the enemy. A cavalry engagement, 
in which we had the advantage, took place between these troops 
and the enemy. We were opposed by Portuguese cavalry, and 
English mounted artillery. The latter lost many men, and a few 
more were taken prisoners. J I spoke to one of them, an English 
captain of artillery. He told me that Wellington was at the head 
of the army, and on that day was at Torres- Lodrones. § 

From what had been seen of the enemy, and from the prisoners' 
reports, there could be no doubt that the whole Allied Army was 
present. Retreat therefore became a necessity, and it was decided 
we should fall back on Valencia. On the morning of the 12th the 
evacuation of Madrid was accomplished. As our last soldiers 
marched out, a few shots were fired at the gates of the town. 
We passed the night at Valdemoro. The enemy did not pursue 
us. On the 13th of August we crossed the Tagus, and after de- 
stroying the bridges in our rear, we came up with the convoy that 
had left Madrid on the loth. 

On the 1 2th the English entered the capital and were received 

* Among those who accompanied King Joseph in his retreat from 
Madrid was M. de Mohrenheim, the Russian Charge d' Affaires. Although 
war had broken out between Russia and France, he thought himself 
bound to act on the instructions he had received on setting out for Ma- 
drid. He was directed by these to follow the example of the French Am- 
bassador in all cases. 

f This corps consisted of the entire Army of the Centre, and of the 
Royal Guard, both infantry and cavalry. 

X The engagement took place at Maya-la-Honda, a village three 
leagues from Madrid, between the high road to the Escurial and that to 
Talavera. General Treilhard commanded the French. 

§ A village two leagues from Madrid, on the road to San Ildefonso. 



6o2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

as deliverers. The shops that had been closed for several days 
were again opened ; the inhabitants proclaimed their delight in 
every way they could think of ; the windows were hung with tap- 
estry and adorned with flowers ; whenever the English officers ap- 
peared they were received with acclamations and applause. In the 
midst of these transports of popular joy, the Constitution given to 
Spain by the Cortes was solemnly proclaimed, and immediately 
put into execution. The civil administration of Madrid was 
confided to officials appointed by the Regency. A new Munici- 
pality was installed in office according to constitutional forms, and 
before entering on its functions proceeded in state to visit the Eng- 
lish General who had taken up his residence in the palace of the 
Kings of Spain, and lavished praise and thanksgiving on the victor 
of the Arapiles. 

The deputation reminded him of all his recently acquired claims 
to glory, and, placing the capital under his powerful protection, im- 
plored him to complete his task by restoring to Spain the monarch 
who was destined to rule constitutionally over a nation rendered 
worthy, by the sacrifices it had made, of its newly recovered liberty. 

Lord Wellington, in reply, promised to maintain order and tran- 
quillity in Madrid ; he congratulated himself on seeing before him 
a body of magistrates elected according to the Constitution, and 
who, honoured as they were with the confidence of the public, 
would be enabled to carry out the laws with impartiality. He 
protested that he took a personal interest in the cause of Spain, 
and declared that England would shrink from no sacrifice to en- 
sure the independence and prosperity of the nation. 

The Cortes and the Regency were enjoying an unexpected tri- 
umph. Their commands were obeyed in Madrid, and their au- 
thority recognised in the capital, so long occupied by the enemy, 
whom they had courageously withstood. But they made an un- 
wise use of the power conferred on them by English troops, and 
one which diminished the number of their adherents. Unneces- 
sary acts of violence were resorted to against the wives and chil- 
dren of those Spaniards who, having accompanied the Government 
to which they had attached themselves, had left their families be- 
hind them in Madrid, either from a conviction they would be in 
safety, or from inability to provide for their removal. Individuals 
of no importance whatever were subjected to inquiries of an odious 
and often ridiculous nature. By a decree, dated the 21st of Sep- 
tember, all Spaniards who had served or were serving King Jo- 
seph, were declared ineligible to public functions, and by a law 
of the 29th of the same month, magistrates were directed to keep 
a watch over those individuals who, on account of their conduct 
or their political opinions, were unpopular in the towns or villages 



A TOILSOME MARCH. 603 

in which they dwelt. Lastly, innocent children were ruined, by 
the confiscation of the property of the absent, while unscrupulous 
informers and officials w^ere enriched. 

While the agents of the Regency were indulging in this violent 
reaction, Wellington was reposing on his laurels at Madrid. Buen 
Retiro, where a garrison of 1 500 men had been most imprudently 
left, had been invested on the 13th of August, and had fallen on 
the following day. The town of Guadalaxara, in which some 
troops had been forgotten, had surrendered on the i6th. There 
was not a single Frenchman remaining in the two Castilles, and, 
apparently, there was nothing to detain the allies. Since Lord 
Wellington, instead of continuing the pursuit of the Army of Por- 
tugal, had decided on marching on Madrid, so as to drive King 
Joseph from that city, he should, at least, have endeavoured to 
prevent the junction of the Army Corps which had left the capital, 
either with the Army of Arragon, which occupied Valencia, or 
with the Army of the South in Andalusia. This would have been 
the more easily accomplished, inasmuch as the Madrid Corps was 
encumbered with a numerous convoy, and marched very slowly. 
But to our great surprise and delight, Lord Wellington remained 
nearly three weeks inactive at Madrid, and allowed Joseph to re- 
treat unmolested to Valencia. This mistake, most advantageous 
for us, entailed very serious consequences on the English, only 
two months later. The strange inaction of their general lost them 
all the fruit of their victory at Los Arapiles. 

At Ocaila the small Army Corps of Madrid had joined the con- 
voy, which then followed the fine high road leading to Valencia. 
The King and his troops bore to the right, and marched by cross 
roads in a parallel line with the convoy, thus protecting its flank 
and rear. But, after some days, as there was no enemy in sight, 
this precaution became unnecessary, and our only difficulties were 
excessive heat during the day, severe cold at night, and a scarcity 
of food and water. The aspect of the plains of La Mancha, which 
we had to cross under a burning sun at the hottest season of the 
year, was desolate in the extreme. The fields, shorn of their 
golden harvest, were now but a dry desert which seemed to ex- 
tend inimitably. There were no trees nor any shade for the weary 
traveller, and it was after a toilsome march of seven days * that the 

* The following is the route followed by the troops with the King at 
their head, and by the convoy under his protection : 

August 15. The King at Ocana, the convoy at Villa-Tobos. 

" 16. The King at Lillo, the convoy at Coral d'Almagro. 

" 17. The King at El Toboso, the convoy at La Mota de Cuervo, 

** 18 and 19. Both at Villa-Robledo. 

" 20 and 21. At Roda. 

" 22. At Albacete. 



6o4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

convoy and the army arrived at Albacete. * There we met with 
fresh difficulties. The high road was comrnanded by the Fortress 
of Chinchilla, manned by a Spanish garrison. We had neither 
time nor appliances for besieging it, and the convoy had to make 
a long round, by almost impassable roads, to escape the range of 
the enemy's guns. A few volleys were fired at our troops without 
effect, and they were able to keep pretty continuously to the high 
road, but the convoy could only regain it at night, and we biv- 
ouacked in a little wood, the first we had seen, about a league 
from Chinchilla. On the following day we reached El Bonete, a 
little village four leagues from Almanza. 

While on our way thither we received news of the Army of Ar- 
ragon. Marshal Suchet had advanced on the right bank of the 
Xucar, and had sent forward a detachment to meet us. The hope 
of speedily effecting a junction with the Army of Arragon sustain- 
ed us during the most fatiguing day of the whole journey. The 
village of El Bonete was deserted ; all the wells had been filled 
up, and the scarcity of water was such, that in the convoy as much 
as a piastre was given for a bottle of muddy water. We left this 
horrible place at midnight, and reached Almanzaf at 6 a. m. on the 
28th of August. The town, which is pretty and well-built, had 
not been deserted. We found provisions, and a detachment of 
two hundred horse from the Army of Arragon, so that, from this 
point, we might consider ourselves in communication with the 
army, and, consequently, out of danger. 

The convoy, with a powerful escort, passed the night at Al- 
manza, but the bulk of the army, and the King and his suite went 
on at midnight. At a league from the town we began the descent 
of the Puerto d' Almanza, J and descried the fertile valleys of the 
kingdom of Valencia. The road is a good one, cut through the 
mountain at great cost. The defile through which it passes is 
about half a league in length. It would have been easy for a 

* This is the highest point of the great table-land of La Mancha, whose 
waters run westward to the Tagus and the Guadiana, and eastward to 
the Xucar. No point of separation is perceptible, however, and the 
maps which indicate a chain of mountains between the two watersheds 
are incorrect. The wells in the town are over sixty feet in depth. 

f Almanza, situated at the eastern extremity of the table-land of La 
Mancha, is famous for Marshal Berwick's victory there on the 15th of 
April, 1707. The field of battle is to the north of the town, A pyramid 
has been raised on the spot to commemorate the event. 

X All the table-land of La Mancha may be considered as the summit of 
a chain of mountains from 300 to 400 toises above the level of the sea. 
Thus one must necessarily descend in order to reach the valley in which 
the kingdom of Valencia is situated. This unusual configuration of the 
soil sufficiently explains the general aridity of La Mancha, and the 
scarcity of water, especially in summer. 



MOCK SOVEREIGNTY. 605 

corps of 12,000 or 13,000 men, which had disembarked at Ah- 
cante, during our retreat, to have advanced on our right, and 
barred the passage ; but it would seem that notwithstanding their 
advantages in attacking us, embarrassed as we were with the enor- 
mous convoy in our rear, they did not deem themselves sufficienlly 
strong to venture on placing themselves between us and Marshal 
Suchet. 

At the mouth of the pass the country opens, and we advanced 
along a road shaded by carob- trees. On either side there were 
vines laden with their ripe grapes, orange-trees covered with fruit 
and blossom, and groves of lofty palm-trees or vast rice-fields, 
canal-watered gardens, and numerous inhabited villages. Such 
was the magnificent landscape before us, from the time of entering 
this happy valley until our arrival at Valencia. To us it seemed 
additionally beautiful because of its contrast with the melancholy 
deserts of La Mancha. Through scenes of continual enchantment 
we passed successively through Moxente, San Felipe (anciently 
Xativa*), Alcira and Carcagente, famous for its fine orange-groves, 
until we reached Valencia on the 31st of August. The King 
made his entry on the same day amid the shouts of the people. 
The archbishop and the clergy received him at the gates of the 
town ; and the magistrates, preceded by the famous Giants, f 
presented themselves in a body, offering him the keys. Then the 
v/hole procession conducted him to the dais prepared for him in 
the cathedral, where of course a Te Deum was chanted. Thus 
Joseph, conquered, and a fugitive from his capital, so to speak, 
was again a King at Valencia. But notwithstanding the honours 

* Xativa (the Setabis of the Romans) was famous by its resistance to 
the troops of Philip V. The inhabitants buried themselves beneath the 
ruins of their houses. When the town was rebuilt it was deprived of its 
ancient name, and was obliged to take that of the conqueror. Xativa 
was partly built on the hill, San Felipe is entirely on the plain. It is re- 
markable for the number of its fountains and their abundant supply of 
water. One of these, at a short distance from the Concentayna Gate, 
has twenty-five spouts, each spout is two inches in diameter. The style 
of the fountain is not elegant, but its situation, at the foot of a rock on 
which only a few cypress-trees grow, is admirable. The lower part is 
planted with lovely weeping-willows and magnificent palm-trees. To 
our unaccustomed eyes the scene was equally novel and delightful. 

Above the fountain is the following inscription : 

La Sed apago al Labrador sediente : 
Con mis cristales Setabis florece, 
Crece el comercio, la labranza crece ; 
Poblacion y cosechas acreciense. 

f These figures which are known at Valencia as Los Gigantes are pup- 
pets of gigantic size. They are kept at the Hotel de Ville, and are only 
taken from it on the occasions of the entry of kings, the procession of 
the patron saint of the town, and on others of a similar kind* 



6o6 ' MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

showered upon him, and which might console him for a moment, 
he was far from recovering his sovereign authority there. Marshal 
Suchet yielded no part of the administration, and the Emperor was 
still the real sovereign of the country. The King and all those 
Spaniards who had accompanied him from Madrid, as well as the 
French in his service, were looked upon merely as refugees, and 
little pains were taken to conceal how unwelcome they were. 
After a few days' repose, the families of the French who had taken 
service in Spain, whether in the army or the civil service, were, 
without exception, sent back to France by the Saragossa and Jaca 
route. * The Spaniards who had accompanied the King, and who 
did not belong to his household, were dispersed among the neigh- 
bouring villages, and were even forbidden to set foot in Valencia. 
The troops brought by the King were placed in cantonments, and 
rested from their fatigue, while preparing for the new campaign 
that was to be opened so soon as the Army of the South should 
have effected a junction with them. . 

I have already said that the King, on leaving Segovia, had 
given positive orders to the Duke of Dalmatia to evacuate Andalu- 
sia, and to join the Army of the Centre at the head of all his 
troops. Toledo had, at first, been named as the spot on which 
the junction should be effected, as we were still hoping to be able 
to maintain ourselves in Madrid, until the arrival of the Army of 
the South. But, the English having forced us to evacuate the cap- 
ital, further messengers had been despatched to Marshal Soult to 
inform him of the retreat of the Army of the Centre on Valencia, 
and to appoint the frontier of that kingdom as the point of junc- 
tion. The King had no reason to doubt that his commands had 
reached Seville, and was anxiously waiting to hear they had been 
executed, when on the 8th of September we learned, in a singular 
and unexpected way, the effect that had been produced by the 
King's orders, and the fashion in which they had been interpreted. 

A letter written by Marshal Soult, at the end of August 1811, 
to the Duke of Feltre, the then Minister of War, had been en- 
trusted to the captain of a vessel sailing from Malaga, who had 
been obliged to put into harbour at Grao. f The captain, unable 
to proceed farther, had delivered the packet entrusted to him to 
Marshal Suchet, who handed it to the King. The latter opened 
it without hesitation, hoping to find some intelligence concerning 
the advance of the Duke of Dalmatia, from whom he had received 
no reply. The' letter was in cipher, but as it was a cipher known to 

* This convoy, which included my wife and daughter, set out on the 
loth of September. 

t The harbour of Valencia is so called. It is half a league from the 
city. 



MARSHAL SOULT'S STATEMENTS. 607 

all the generals of the armies in Spain, it was easily read, and 
communicated to Marshal Jourdan and the Duke of Albufera. 

The following is an abridgment of the contents. 

Marshal Soult began by complaining of the difficulties of corre- 
spondence, and the dangers of his position. Then he entered on 
the subject in hand. "All the accounts, " he wrote, " that had 
reached him of the battle of the Arapiles (Salamanca) appeared to 
him to be exaggerated ; he ventured to think that the disaster was 
not so grave as it had been represented. He complained that the 
King had not informed him of his march at the head of 15,000 
men to assist the Duke of Ragusa, and that he had only heard of 
that march on receiving the King's commands to evacuate Anda- 
lusia, and advance on Toledo as the sole 7'emaining means of safety. 
He blamed the King's course, and thought he would have done 
better to wait until the Emperor had ordered the advance of the 
Spanish Army of the North. He had made propositions to the 
King, * which had not been accepted ; but fearing to incur too 
great a responsibility if he evaded His Majesty's commands, he 
intended to obey them, although he looked on the evacuation of 
Andalusia as a fatal step." Moreover, he accused the King of 
intending to evacuate Spain at least as far as the Ebro, thereby 
sacrificing his fairest conquests. 

Then the Marshal added that he could not refrain from alluding 
to other events taking place at the same time. 

He had seen in the Cadiz newspapers : 

* ' That the King' s ambassador in Russia, f had thrown out 
some hints of treating with the insurgent Government at Cadiz. 

" That Sweden had entered into a treaty with England. 

*' That two hundred and fifty Spaniards had been sent to form 
part of the guard of the Hereditary Prince of Sweden (Bernadotte, 
the King's brother-in-law). 

*' That an aide-de-camp of Moreau's had arrived at Cadiz." 

Lastly, the Duke of Dalmatia informed the Minister, that he 
had confided his misgivings, with which these various circum- 
stances inspired him, to six generals of his army, under oath to 
reveal them only on command of the Emperor, J for he believed 

* He alludes to his proposal that the King should come to Andalusia 
and join the Army of the South. The King had declined to do this. 

f I never heard that King Joseph had had an ambassador in Russia. 
There was, I believe, a former charge d'affaires who remained there. 
But Russia had an ambassador at Madrid, Baron de Mohrenheim, who 
accompanied us in our retreat, notwithstanding the war between France 
and Russia, and I can positively affirm that he was never the medium of 
any secret transactions that, by command of the Emperor, may have 
been attempted with the Cortes or the Cadiz regency. 

X The meeting in question had, in fact, taken place at Seville, at the 



6o8' MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that the aim of all the unwise measures that were being taken was 
to force all the French troops to re-cross the Ebro. 

He concluded his letter by saying ' ' that he preferred rather to 
exaggerate his fears than to pass them over, since they referred to 
subjects so important to the well-being of the Emperor's service." 

This letter was a formal accusation of the King. It lent a false 
colouring to his orders for the evacuation of Andalusia, by connect- 
ing them with various extraneous circumstances which might give 
them a suspicious appearance in the Emperor s mind. It greatly 
incensed the King, who resolved on forwarding a copy to his 
brother, together with an explanatory statement of his conduct and 
motives. The memorandum contained an accurate account of the 
recent events in Spain, and described the insubordination of the 
generals and its fatal effects. Colonel Desprez, the King' s aide- 
de-camp, was commissioned to carry the letter and the memoran- 

moment of the departure of the army. A person who was present gave 
me the following particulars. The Marshal, after receiving the oaths of 
the assembled officers that they would not divulge what he was about to 
communicate to them, stated that having resolved on obeying the orders 
he had received to evacuate Andalusia, he thought it right to inform them 
of the alarm with which those orders had inspired him. He could not 
conceal that he regarded this proceeding as a kind of treason towards the 
Emperor, for, by the withdrawal of the Army of the South, perhaps even 
to the Ebro, which he suspected was intended, the whole of Spain would 
be placed in the power of the Cortes and the Regency. That no doubt 
the King had foreseen the consequences of the step, but that he had per- 
sisted in it, because it was in fact, in the interests of a prince who was 
bent, at all costs, on conciliating the Spaniards, and who intended even 
to place hirftself in their hands, hoping that Ihey would preserve his crown 
to him as a reward for delivering them from the French. " For my 
part," added the Marshal, " being convinced, as a general, that the 
whole forces of the English could not drive out the Army of the South, 
and equally convinced, as the faithful subject of the Emperor, that it was 
to his advantage to retain that wealthy province, I made every possible 
effort to withstand a decision so contrary to his interests. With this 
view I even proposed to the King to come into Andalusia, and unite his 
forces to mine. My efforts were made in vain, and my proposals were 
declined. It now only remains for me to obey, and I should have done 
so in silence, if the fears I have just laid before you were the outcome of 
my own observation only. But they are confirmed by the reports I receive 
from Cadiz, which speak of negotiations between the King and the 
Cortes. As these reports may be known to you, I have thought it my 
duty to inform the Duke of Feltre of the state of affairs, and also to com- 
municate them to the chiefs of the army. I trust this statement will 
prove to you that in carrying out the reiterated and absolute orders of 
the commander-in-chief of all the French troops in Spain, I am, at least, 
neither the instrument of designs which he may have formed as King, 
nor willing to serve those designs." 

This speech is too similar to the letter intercepted at Valencia for any 
doubt to remain as to the truthfulness of the narrative of my informant, 
such as I have just given it. 



MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 609 

dum to the Emperor, and to make all necessary explanations ver- 
bally. No one could be better adapted, by natural ability, by 
knowledge of the facts, and by sound judgment, to fulfil this 
delicate task, but he only reached the Emperor at Moscow, where 
he was already involved in difficulties of all kinds. The interests 
of Spain were necessarily merged in the crisis, then engrossing all 
the Emperor's thoughts. Therefore, even if Colonel Desprez ob- 
tained a hearing, the impression he produced was soon effaced, 
and the marks of favour that the Emperor continued to bestow on 
the Duke of Dalmatia and the Duke of Ragusa, the confidence 
he never ceased to repose in them, have since proved that the 
King's complaints were soon forgotten. The importance to the 
Emperor of the military ability and great experience of the former 
of the two Marshals may justify his partiality towards him ; and, 
moreover, an excess of zeal was not displeasing. But that par- 
tiality is more difficult to understand in the case of the latter, by 
whom it was so ill deserved, and so ungratefully requited. 

Three days before Colonel Desprez' departure — he set out on 
the 15th of September — letters arrived from Marshal Soult an- 
nouncing his determination to carry out the King's commands, and 
the steps he was taking for the evacuation of Andalusia. Other 
letters followed, informing us of the march of the Army of the 
South. On this the King left Valencia on the 2 2d of September 
and established himself at Moxcute, * and San-Felipe, in order to 
be within easier reach of the Duke of Dalmatia. At last, on the 
2d of October, we learned that he had arrived with his army at 
Fuente de Higuera, whither the King proceeded on the 3d, for 
the purpose of conferring with him. In accordance with resolu- 
tions made at the conference, at which Marshal Jourdan was pres- 
ent, the King, as soon as he had returned to San-Felipe, de- 
spatched General Lucotte to the Army of Portugal, with orders 
that it should advance to the Douro ; and cross the river, so as to 
effect a junction with the Armies of the South and of the Centre. 
These latter were about to advance towards the Tagus, so as to 
force the English to evacuate Madrid, and to retreat over the Sierra 
de Guadarrama, beyond which it was intended to pursue them. 
According to this plan of campaign, the Army of the South was to 
take the high road from Valencia to Madrid through Albacete, 
and the Army of the Centre would take the road from Valencia to 
Cuen9a through Requeiia ; the two armies were to unite at Ocana. 

These plans being settled, we returned to Valencia, where we 
remained for some days, preparing for our departure, and waiting 
for news of Marshal Soult, whose march we were to follow. So 

* Situated at the extremity of the kingdom of Valencia. 



6lO , MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

soon as we heard that he had begun to move, the headquarters of 
the Army of the South left Valencia,* on the i6th of October, 
and proceeded by way of Bunol, Requefia, Villagordo, the Bridge 
of Pagaso, by which we crossed the Gabriel, f Pesquera, Almodo- 
var de la Pefia and Solara. During our progress, and before 
reaching Cuen9a, where we arrived on the 23d of October, we 
were joined by General Begarre returning from Paris, whither he 
had been sent by the King. He brought us bulletins from the 
Grand Army, containing details of the battle of the Moskowa, of 
the Emperor's entry into Moscow, and, lastly, of the terrible de- 
struction of the ancient capital of Russia by fire. These accounts 
were received by our army as good news of victories, which, 
although dearly bought, would add to the lustre of our arms. We 
were far indeed from foreseeing their fatal consequences. 

The army, after two days' rest at Cuen9a,]; marched on the 26th 
of October for Taran9on, where we arrived on the 27th. On the 
28th we reached Ocafia, where we found the Duke of Dalmatia, 



* During a six weeks' stay in the kingdom of Valencia, I made several 
very pleasant excursions. I visited the environs of the town, and went to 
Murviedro, anciently Sagonte, where I saw the remains of an ancient 
Roman theatre. I saw the magnificent gardens of the Archbishop of 
Valencia's country house at Puzol, where the rarest plants are grown in 
the open air. I also examined the fine reservoirs constructed by the 
Moors, the water from which irrigates the valley, where they maintain a 
perpetual verdure and great fertility. But it would take too long to relate 
all my excursions. Besides, every kind of information concerning the 
kingdom of Valencia may be found in Cavanilles' work entitled * Observa- 
ciones sobfe la historia naturale, geografia, agricultura, poblacion y frusos 
del reyno de Valencia,' printed at the Royal Printing House at Madrid 
in 1795, in two vols, in folio. As for the town of Valencia itself — its 
monuments and its Alameda, formerly so famous for the splendid palm- 
trees that were destroyed during the siege, have been described by every 
traveller. 

f This river rises in the mountain of San-Felipe, not far from Cuen5a, 
and empties itself on the borders of the kingdom of Valencia into the 
Xucar, whose source is in the same mountain. 

if Cuen9a, the chief town of the province of the same name, is built on 
the site of a very steep hill, and backed by two high mountains. The 
general appearance of the site has some resemblance to a shell, whence 
the town is called Cuen9a {concha). The Guecar, which falls into the 
Xucar, runs below the town through a deep ravine, spanned by a boldly- 
designed bridge, which is said to have been built from the design of a 
canon of Cuen9a. The cathedral, which is very ancient, is of Gothic 
architecture. Near the high altar is an inscription in Gothic letters, giv- 
ing the date at which Cuen9a passed under the rule of the kings of Castille. 

El Rey don Alonzo IX. 

Gano a Cuen90, et Miercoles, 

Dia de San Mateo, XXI de Septiembre, 

Ano de Nuestro Senor MCLXXVII. 



MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 6l I 



and the Army of the South. His advanced guard had already 
crossed the Tagus at Aranjuez. 

Before narrating the military movements which ensued, I must 
give some account of what was going on in the meantime, among 
the English and their allies. 

Wellington having remained inactive at Madrid, during the re- 
treat of the French, prolonged his stay in the capital until the ist 
of September. He then put himself at the head of the Allied 
Army in the neighbourhood of Arevalo, having General Hill's 
Corps in his rear. This corps had withdrawn from Estremadura, 
after Marshal Soult's evacuation of Andalusia, and was occupying 
the passage of the Tagus between Toledo and Aranjuez. 

Wellington left Arevalo on the 4th of September, crossed the 
Douro on the 6th, and entered Valladolid, pursuing the retreating 
Army of Portugal beyond the Pisuerga. On the 1 7th, the Allied 
Army, which had been joined on the preceding day by three 
divisions of infantry and a corps of Galician cavalry under General 
Castanos, appeared before Burgos, and obliged the French army to 
evacuate the town and withdraw to Monasterio de Rodilla et 
Brivierca, leaving a garrison of 1 500 men in the citadel of Burgos. * 

This long-abandoned fortress had been hastily repaired, and 
surrounded by earth-works, which formed a kind of entrenched 
camp around the walls. The works, which were very insufficient, 
were not even finished when the enemy appeared. But an intrepid 
soldiery, and their courageous, skilful and honourable command- 
ant. General Dubreton, converted these slight defences into an im- 
pregnable fort, and all the endeavours of the allies failed before their 
spleridid and unexpected defence. In a word, this fortress — if we 
may so call the Citadel of Burgos — which seemed unable to hold 
out more than a few days, arrested the march and foiled the plans 
of a victorious army. Lord Wellington, who understood all the 
importance of the place, neglected no means of securing it, and 
was prodigal of the blood of the soldiers — of which English gen- 
erals are generally so sparing — in numberless attacks and assaults. 
But they were driven back on all sides, and lost, by their own 
reckoning, more than 4000 men in the breaches and at the pali- 
sades. 

While the English army was making these fruitless efforts, and 
while its chief was perhaps beginning to appreciate the value of the 
time he had lost in Madrid, the French were preparing to advance. 
Marshal Massena, who, in the absence of the Emperor, had been 
appointed by the Duke of Feltre to supersede Marshal Marmont 

* It was about this time that Wellington was appointed by the Cortes 
Generalissimo of the Spanish armies. 



'6l2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

in the command of the Army of Portugal, was on his way to Ba- 
yonne, and was hastening the arrival of the reinforcements intended 
for him. He did not, however, take command of the army, but, 
after a short stay at Bayonne, returned to Paris on the plea of ill- 
health. His departure caused no delay in our operations, and the 
army had scarcely passed under the provisional command of Gen- 
eral Souham, the oldest of the Generals of Division, than he heard 
of the advance of the King and Marshal Soult, a,nd immediately 
resumed the offensive. 

In consequence of the movements of the French, Lord Welling- 
ton found himself between two armies, advancing upon him from 
opposite directions. He was much stronger than either of them 
taken separately, and might, therefore, defeat each singly. The 
Army of Portugal having left the banks of the Ebro, appeared in 
the neighbourhood of Burgos on the loth of October. 

At this time the King was still at a distance of more than ten 
days' march from the Tagus. The English had therefore ample 
time to defeat him, and drive the Army of Portugal back to the 
Ebro. The Citadel of Burgos, notwithstanding its brave defence, 
could not make a permanent resistance, and nothing would then 
prevent the allies from marching on the Tagus, and there defeating 
the troops from Valencia and Andalusia. But this, the most dash- 
ing and decisive step, was also the most hazardous, and could not 
be combined with Lord Wellington's methodical and cautious 
strategy. The siege of Burgos was therefore raised at nightfall on 
the 2 1 St of October, after an investment of thirty- five days, and the 
Allied Army fell back successively on the Carrion, the Pisuerga, 
and, finally, on the 29th of October, behind the Douro as far as 
Salamanca, where a junction was effected with General Hill, who 
on our approach had evacuated Madrid and retired over the Sierra 
de Guadarrama.* 

On the 31st of October, the advanced guards of the united 
armies of the South and the Centre crossed the Tagus at Aranjuez, 
and on the 2d of November the King re-entered Madrid. A new 
and hastily-formed municipal body received him, and, in a greatly 
embarrassed speech, endeavoured to excuse the inhabitants, by 
pleading the disasters of the times, and entreated the royal clem- 

* As they retreated, the English soldiery devastated the country through 
which they passed, and whose defence they relinquished. Their excesses 
were so great that Lord Wellington, in a proclamation addressed to his 
army (see ' Annual Register,' 1812, p. 158), " reproached it with a 
want of discipline exceeding anything he had ever seen in the armies in 
which he had served, and even anything he had ever heard of." I do not 
quote these words of the English general in order to justify similar 
conduct on the part of the French in the same country, but only to prove 
that the English had no right to reproach them with it. 



- AT MADRID ONCE MORE. 613 

ency. Nor was that clemency asked in vain ; no severity was ex- 
ercised, and no informers were listened to. The King, however, 
only remained one day at Madrid, and set out again on the 4th of 
November. We crossed the Guadarrama on the same night, and 
on the 6th we reached Arevalo, where we received the first direct 
intelligence from the Army of Portugal, whose advance had been 
delayed by the necessity of reconstructing the bridges destroyed by 
the English in their retreat. 

From Arevalo, where we remained a day, waiting for the ad- 
vance of the Army of Portugal, the King proceeded to Pefia- 
Aranda, where the junction of the three Armies of the South, of 
Portugal, and of the Centre was effected. The latter, which, ac- 
cording to first arrangements, was to remain and defend the capital, 
had been ordered to leave Madrid, so as to collect all our available 
forces in one spot, and increase our chances of success if, as was 
hoped, we could draw the English into a general engagement. * 

Thus, on the loth of November, the King found himself at the 
head of nearly 100,000 men on the right bank of the Tormes. 
But these 100,000 men were unequally divided among the three 
armies. That of the South numbered 60,000 men. The Army 
of Portugal 25,000, and the Army of the Centre only 12,000. 
The latter had been long under the personal command of the 
King, but as the command-in-chief had devolved upon him, he 
considered that he should retain no other, and handed over the 
command of the Army of the Centre to Marshal Soult, who was 
thus at the head of two armies. That of Portugal had, since it 
left Burgos, been under General Souham ; he gave the command 
of it to Count d'Erlon, who had hitherto served in the Army of the 
South. The King hoped that there would be a better understand- 
ing, and greater unanimity, between d'Erlon and the Duke of 
Dalmatia, than there had been between the Duke and General 
Souham, but the latter felt the slight keenly on the eve of an ex- 
pected battle. On the other hand, Marshal Soult, in open oppo- 
sition to the King for the last six months, and perfectly well aware 
that he owed the mark of confidence, just bestowed on him, only to 
the necessity for his talents and his influence with the troops, was 
not greatly disposed to act as the instrument of another's glory. 

These arrangements, whether well or ill-conceived, were carried 
out, and preparations were made to attack the English. We 
learned that they had taken up a position on the left bank of the 
Tormes on the plain of the Arapiles, where Marshal Marmont had 
been defeated five months previously. On the right bank they had 

* Madrid having been completely evacuated, the Army of the Centre 
was followed by a crowd of persons of both sexes, who dared not remain 
in the city after the departure of the French. 



6l4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

left a corps occupying Alba de Tormes. We had at first debated 
whether we should cross the river at Alba itself, forcing our passage 
in the face of the English, but this plan, proposed by Marshal 
Jourdan, was rejected as being too hazardous, and we resolved on 
turning the enemy's position by crossing the Tormes four or five 
leagues above Salamanca, so as to fall on the rear of the English. 
The King left Pena-Aranda on the 13th of November and passed 
the night at Val de Garros. On the same day the Duke of Dal- 
matia, advancing along the banks of the Tormes, came opposite 
La Maya, and on the 14th, at the head of the Armies of the South 
and of the Centre, effected the passage of the river. Meanwhile 
Count d' Erlon was moving upon the latter town, which the English 
abandoned on his approach, so as to cross to the left bank of 
the Tormes. The Royal Guard and the Reserve, with which I had 
placed myself, followed the movements of the King, and we crossed 
the river at noon opposite Galisancho. We bivouacked for the 
night behind Mozarbes in a wood of green oaks of that kind whose 
acorns are edible {Quercus edulis). They served partly for our 
soldiers' rations. The King' s headquarters were at the Montehano 
Earm, a league from Mozarbes. During the evening active fire 
was kept up by the enemy on our reconnoitring parties, but no 
serious engagement ensued. 

On the 15th of November, in the morning, the armies were face 
to face. Never, since the opening of the war in Spain, had more 
numerous forces appeared on the same battle-field. The Allied 
Army numbered 90,000 men,* and the French, as we have already 
seen, 97,^000. We were therefore superior to our enemy in 
strength, especially in cavalry. Early in the morning, the King 
left the Montehano Farm, and advanced towards the Hermitage of 
Nuestra-Seiiora de Utera. Great events were expected, but that 
day, on which a general and decisive engagement seemed immi- 
nent, was passed by the French in manoeuvres and partial move- 
ments that led to nothing. It was thought best to delay our attack 
until the troops of the Army of Portugal, who had not been able 
to cross the river at Alba until very late on the preceding day, 
should have arrived on the field, and they only came up at noon. 

* The following, according to an official statement made to me at 
Salamanca, is a list of the troops under Lord Wellington's command : 

English 22 to 23,000 men. 

Portuguese . 18 ,, 20,000 ,, 

Galicians, brought by Castanos g ,, 10,000 ,, 

General Hill's corps 20 ,, 21,000 ,, 

Spanish '. . 17 ,, 18,000 ,, 

Total 86 to 92,000 men. 



THE ENGLISH RETREAT. 615 

The Duke of Dalmatia then made a flank movement on his left 
with all his forces, with the intention of cutting off the road from 
Salamanca to Ciudad-Rodrigo ; but this movement was begun too 
late to be successful. The morning had been passed in fortifying 
the heights occupied by the French, which the English made a 
feint of attacking, to mask their retreat. Precious time was wasted, 
the opportunity was allowed to pass by, and Lord Wellington, who 
had only intended to avoid a battle, drew off his numerous army 
in the direction of Tamanes,* in the face of the French, who offered 
no obstacle. Heavy rain, falling all day, was in favour of his re- 
treat. The allies took advantage of the night to quicken their 
march. They were followed for some days by Marshal Sou It, but 
he soon gave up the useless pursuit. Finally, the enemy fell back 
altogether on the frontiers of Portugal. They had, however, lost 
a considerable number of prisoners taken by the French on the 
rear of the Allied Army, and had sustained great losses in baggage 
and transport trains owing to the bad state of the roads. 

Count d'Erlon entered Salamanca at the head of the Army of 
Portugal, on the evening of the 1 5th of November, and on ihe 
next day the King fixed his headquarters in that city. Thus 
ended the campaign so long prepared, so well conducted, until the 
critical moment, and from which so different a result had been ex- 
pected. ' ' Was this, ' ' we asked each other, ' ' all that the col- 
lecting together of such forces was to produce } How did the 
Allied Armies, whom we had almost surprised in an unfavourable 
position, contrive to escape us ? How was it that the French, 
after crossing the Tormes, did not instantly occupy the road from 
Salamanca to Tamanes so as to cut off the retreat of the English ? 
How was it that we did not attack on the morning of the 15 th, 
without waiting for the arrival of the Army of Portugal .? Why 
did not Marshal Soult and his troops commence and sustain the 
battle, until Count d' Erlon had come up with his columns, which 
were only a league and a half from the field .? Was it timidity, 
uncertainty, or want of good will that delayed the attack T ' Such 
were the questions that occurred to every one after the events of 
the 15th of November. What had become of the activity and the 
boldness of our troops .^ What spell had been laid upon them } 
It was melancholy to think that personal resentment, and fatal 
misunderstandings, had probably robbed the French of the glory 
of avenging a recent defeat on the very spot on which they had in- 
curred it, and yet we were almost forced to this conclusion. Our 
army was numerous, the enemy inferior in strength ; our chiefs 
were able and experienced, our soldiers willing. How could vic- 

* Situated half way between Salamanca and Ciudad-Rodrigo. 



616- MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

tory have been doubtful, if the will to conquer had equalled the 
means ? 

We remained but a few days at Salamanca. So soon as we 
knew for certain that the Allied Army had crossed the Agueda, re- 
entered Portugal, and once more left Spain to her fate, the King 
began to think of returning to Madrid, and cantonments were 
assigned to the three armies. 

The Army of the South was ordered to occupy the provinces of 
Avila, Plascencia, and part of Toledo and La Mancha. Head- 
quarters at Toledo. 

The Army of Portugal was to occupy the provinces of Sala- 
manca, Zamora, Valladolid and Burgos, as far as the boundaries 
of the Army of the North. Headquarters at Valladolid. 

The Army of the Centre was to occupy the provinces of Segovia, 
Guadalaxara, Madrid, Cuen9a and those parts of the provinces of 
Toledo and La Mancha not occupied by the Army of the South. 
Headquarters at Madrid. 

These arrangements once made, there was nothing to detain the 
King at Salamanca.* He left that city on the 23d of Novem- 
ber, in extremely cold weather, quite unprecedented in Spain at 
that season of the year, f We passed through Peiia-Aranda, 
Madrigal, J Arevalo, where we stayed three days, and Villa-Castin, 

* The city of Salamanca, which I had sufficient leisure to explore thor- 
oughly, contains many fine buildings. The cathedral, the Jesuits' Col- 
lege, and the University are the most remarkable. Above the entrance 
gate of the^ University is the following inscription, dating from the days 
of Ferdinand and Isabella : 

01 BA2IAEIS TH ErKTKAOnEAElA. 

ATTH T0I2 BASIAEISI. 

The Plaza Mayor is very handsome. It is surrounded with porticos, 
above which are three-storied houses of fair architecture. Over the 
spring of the arches is a series of stone medallions containing por- 
traits of the kings of Spain and of the great men of the nation. Among 
the latter are those of the Cid, Gonzalez de Cordova, Cristoval Colon 
(Columbus), Francisco Pizarro, Fernando de Toledo, Antonio de Leyva, 
and others, A great number of ancient buildings had been greatly in- 
jured by the construction of the Duke of Ragusa's fort on the Tormes, at 
the end of the bridge leading to the town. This part of the town was a 
heap of ruins. 

f Before leaving Salamanca, the King sent General Bigarre to Paris, 
with a memorandum to the Emperor dated the 21st of November, 
recounting recent events. In this memorandum he pointed out the mis- 
takes into which. Marshal Soult had fallen, at the time of the proposed 
attack on the English at the Arapiles on the 14th, mistakes which saved 
them from utter defeat. He added that Marshal Jourdan had advised the 
crossing of the Tormes at Alba, in the face of ihe enemy. 

X The little town of Madrigal was formerly the abode of the kings of 
Castille, but it retains no traces of its ancient splendour. It is the birth- 



AT MADRID AGAIN. 617 

and after crossing the Puerto de Guadarrama on the 2d * of De- 
cember we arrived the same evening at Madrid. After the depart- 
ure of the Army of the Centre, the guerilla chief I'Empecinado 
had occupied the town ; but he left it on the approach of the 
troops that preceded us. 

For the third time,f after being alternately obliged to leave 
Madrid, and then enabled through the chances of war to return 
thither, we were entering the capital, but it was for no long stay ; 
we were destined soon to leave Madrid for ever. 

place of the famous impostor Pasteleca, who pretended to be Don Sebas- 
tian, king of Portugal, who was killed in Africa in battle with the Moors. 

* We suffered greatly from cold on the mountain, without meeting, 
however, with any serious accident. But a few days after our passage, 
some troops from Segovia, under Count d'Erlon, were surprised on the 
Puerto de Guadarrama by a sudden storm and lost nearly a hundred 
men. 

f Once in 1808, and twice in 1812. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Painful impression made' on the French in Madrid by the accounts 
received of the Grand Army in Russia — Results of those disasters on 
Spanish affairs — The Army of the South is concentrated on the Douro 
— The King, accompanied by his guard, removes to Valladolid — The 
forces under the King's command are reduced by more than one third, 
owing to the recall of a great number of subalterns and veteran soldiers 
to France, and to the detachment of a corps commanded by General 
Clausel, to act against Mina — Lord Wellington appointed generalissimo 
of all the Spanish armies by the Cortes — Evacuation of Madrid — The 
English general commences his operations at the head of 100,000 men, 
and arrives on the Tormes on the 26th of May — The French fall back 
on Burgos, and are pursued by the enemy — The King orders the citadel 
of Burgos to be blown up, a considerable number of French soldiers 
losing their lives by the explosion — The King's army reaches the 
passes of Pancorvo on the 15th of June — Dissension in the King's 
council of war as to whether we shall or shall not defend the defiles — 
The French fall back on the Ebro — The English having crossed the 
river, the French take to flight, and take up a position on the Zadora, 
before Vittoria, on the 19th of June — The opportunity of retreating to 
the Salinos Pass behind Vittoria having been missed, the King is 
obliged^to meet the enemy— Position of the army on the morning of 
the 21st — The battle commences, and the French, after an obstinate 
resistance, are forced from their first, and shortly afterwards from their 
second position— The high road to France being held by the enemy, 
we retreat towards Salvatierra — The English hussars turn our retreat 
into a rout, and we reach Salvatierra in the evening — We continue to 
retreat, the Army of Portugal forming our rear-guard — The King, with 
the Armies of the South and Centre, reaches Pampeluna on the 23d — 
Having rejoined the Army of Portugal, he crosses the Bidassoa on the 
28th of June, and fixes his headquarters at St. Jean de Luz — The Au- 
thor is ordered on a mission to the Emperor in Germany, and sets out 
for Vichy, where he intends to see Queen Julia on his way through — 
The Queen persuades him not to persist in his journey to Dresden, and 
retracing his steps he joins the King near Bayonne — Joseph establishes 
himself with his suite at the Chateau de Poyanne, but at the expiration 
of a week receives permission to reside at Morfontaine, where he 
arrives with the Author on the 30th of July, 1813. 

Scarcely had we returned to Madrid after the fruitless campaign 
of Salamanca, when news from Paris filled us with alarm and 
anxiety. The bulletins from the Grand Army in Russia announced 
that it was in full retreat, and although we could not as yet divine 
the disasters of that fatal retreat, the style of the bulletins was so 



1813: 6ig 

far from reassuring, that those among us who felt the greatest con- 
fidence in the ability and genius of the Emperor began to feel 
alarmed. On the other hand, the events that had taken place dur- 
ing the Emperor's absence : General Mallet's conspiracy, which 
had brought the political existence of the Government within an 
ace of ruin, the absurd conduct of the persons in authority during 
the momentary crisis, and the unusual procedure by which the 
General and his accomplices had been condemned, seemed to an- 
nounce a state of weakness and internal convulsion, which our re- 
verses abroad made still more dangerous and formidable. Finally, 
the comments of the French gazettes on the military operations 
that had taken place in Spain within the last three months, were 
all written in a spirit adverse to the King. In their accounts of the 
movements of our armies they preserved a studied silence in his 
regard, while the highest praise was lavished on the Duke of Dal- 
matia, thereby proving that the King's complaints of his conduct 
had received no attention. 

In this state of disquiet, in this painful expectation of a gloomy 
future, the last days of 18 12 passed slowly away. Madrid was 
dull, the palace was deserted ; discouragement and discontent were 
evident everywhere. Marshal Jourdan was invalided, and had 
handed over his command to General d'Aultannes ; discipline was 
becoming more and more lax. The King's temper, embittered 
by so many causes, was greatly altered ; the difficulties into which 
his private affairs were thrown by the exhaustion of his finances, 
forced him to steps, which as they interfered with the interests of 
numerous persons, daily diminished the number of his adherents. 
In order to set him free to adopt more economical arrangements, I 
gave up, of my own accord, the post of superintendent-general of 
the household, which I had hitherto filled. I was therefore with- 
out any administrative duties ; and I remained with him from 
motives of friendship and affection only. 

The year 18 13 opened under these melancholy auspices, and in 
a very short time the particulars conveyed by the celebrated Bulle- 
tin No. 29, and which were circulated in Spain even before we had 
received them, * dispelled all doubt as to the disasters of our army 
in Russia. They were moreover confirmed, and if possible aggra- 
vated, by a letter from Colonel Desprez, who, on returning from 
Moscow, wrote to the King that ' * imagination could not reach to 
the reality of our reverses, ' ' that, in one word, ' ' //le army was dead. 

When the first shock produced by this terrible ending to a 

* The bulletin only reached us at Madrid on the i6th of January, 
although on the 31st of December it had been received at Vittoria and 
Burgos, whence it had spread into Portugal and to Cadiz. 



620 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

gigantic enterprise had partially worn off, we asked ourselves what 
would be its effect on our situation in Spain. It was evident, to 
begin with, that we could no longer look for help from France, 
and next, that the enemy, daily strengthened by fresh reinforce- 
ments, would hasten to profit by so favourable an opportunity of 
attacking us. It was useless to think of defending the Tagus or of 
retaining possession of the capital, and it was urgent to hasten the 
concentration of our forces on the Douro, to prevent the enemy 
from crossing, if possible. But notwithstanding the urgent neces- 
sity of coming to a decision, we remained in suspense, awaiting 
the Emperor' s commands. He was already beginning to recall all 
the flower of the Army from Spain, to recruit the Imperial Guard. 
Whole cadres of regiments were being sent off, to be filled up by 
the extraordinary conscription then being raised in France. At 
the same time also, he was summoning the generals on whom he 
believed most reliance could be placed, or whose ability was 
known to and needed by him. The Duke of Dalmatia was among 
the number. He passed through Madrid on the 2d of March, 
taking with him a large number of wagons, laden with valuables 
which he had brought from Andalusia. After seeing the King for 
a moment, he continued his journey to Paris. Nothing could be 
less like disgrace than his manner of progress, and in fact, it was 
not in disgrace that he was recalled from Spain. 

The Emperor's orders having at length reached us, the troops 
belonging to the Army of the South, which since the departure of 
Marshal Soult had been commanded by General Gazan, began to 
be massed, early in March, on both banks of the Douro, one 
division remaining as an advanced guard at Salamanca. The 
King resolved on removing to Valladolid, the headquarters of the 
Army of Portugal under General Reille. He left Madrid on the 
1 7th of March attended by his Guard ; but the Army of the Centre 
remained in the capital and its environs, under Count d'Erlon, 
who had assumed the command when he gave up that of the Army 
of Portugal. We had thus, as the reader sees, pretty well aban- 
doned the whole country lying between the Tagus and the Douro. 
On the former we retained only the post of Aranjuez, garrisoned 
by the Army of the Centre, and even this was to be evacuated so 
soon as the army, which was only provisionally occupying Madrid 
should have withdrawn, to join those of the South and of Portugal, 
if the enemy's movements rendered the junction of all our forces 
necessary. 

The French were therefore remaining on the defensive ; but 
their strength was ever being lessened by the numerous detach- 
ments the Emperor continued to draw from Spain, to reinforce his 
northern armies and especially to form a nucleus for the new regi- 



WELLINGTON RETURNS. 621 

ments he was raising in France. Those, therefore, which remained 
in Spain were not only numerically weakened, but injured by 
the removal of non-commissioned officers and veteran soldiers. 
The forces at our disposal to oppose the enemy, were yet further 
reduced by direct orders from the Emperor in view of a special 
object. He gave General Clausel the command of an indepen- 
dent corps of 10,000 men, drawn from the Armies of the North 
and Portugal, with orders to place himself at their head, in pur- 
suit of Mina, who at that time was ravaging Navarre and Biscay, 
levying taxes, and almost absolute master of those two provinces.* 
From all the above causes, the three armies of the South, the 
Centre, and Portugal, which, as I have already said, formed a 
total of nearly 100,000 soldiers, were reduced in the month of 
May to 55,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry under the immediate 
command of the King, Marshal Jourdan being his Major-General. 
During the early part of 18 13, the English, who had returned 
to Portugal after their retreat from Salamanca, made no move- 
ment, and as we were not able to act on the offensive, our stay at 
Valladolid, where the King arrived on the 23d of March, lasted 
over two months. During that time Joseph again entertained 
some delusive hopes, to which the inaction of the enemy contrib- 
uted. They arose thus : From intelligence we received from 
Cadiz, we learned that Lord Wellington had arrived in that town ; 
that the Cortes and the Regency had conferred upon him the com- 
mand-in-chief of all the Spanish armies and the title of Generalis- 
simo ; that this had offended the Spanish generals ; that among 
others, Ballesteros, who possessed great influence over the troops, 
had refused to recognize the authority of the English Generalis- 
simo, and that the Government had been under the necessity of 
dismissing and even exiling Ballesteros. While these internal dis- 
sensions were breaking out at Cadiz, several guerilla corps sta- 
tioned in La Mancha, dissatisfied by the treatment shown to Bal- 
lesteros, had hinted that they would be disposed to come to terms 
with the King's Government, if certain advantages were promised 
them. On hearing this, General Virnes, the King's aide-de- 
camp, had been sent to treat with them. But the hopes that had 
been too easily entertained w^ere soon dispelled, f Lord Welling- 
ton had returned to the army after a temporary absence, and in 
the middle of May he commenced operations. At the first report 
of his movements, the evacuation of Madrid was resolved on, and 

* General Clausel left Vittoria at the head of the corps on the nth of 
April, 1 813, and was victorious wherever he met with the enemy, but he 
had not time to complete his task. 

f General Virnes got no farther than Madrid : the movements of the 
enemy hindered him from advancing farther. 



622 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Army of the Centre received orders to quit the capital and its 
environs, and join the headquarters of the King at ValladoHd. A 
convoy was also despatched to France, consisting of the sick, of 
convalescents, and of many persons attached to the government or 
to the army, whose presence would have added to our difficulties 
in the approaching campaign. Among them was Count de La- 
foret. We saw him depart without regret ; he had contributed in 
no small degree to augment the difficulties of our position, by the 
ignorance in which he had left the Emperor respecting the real 
condition of Spain. 

The Allied Army under Lord Wellington reached the Tormes 
on the 26th of May, and entered Salamanca on the same day. 
General Villate's Corps left the city after sustaining some loss. 
Lord Wellington's forces consisted of the English troops, of a 
Portuguese corps, and of the Fourth Corps of the Spanish army. 
They were estimated at 100,000 men. 

On the 28 th of May, the news of the advance of this immense 
army between the Tormes and the Douro reached Valladolid, and 
we made all preparations for departure. But the Arm^y of the 
Centre had not yet joined us, and we could not begin our march 
without it, nor without the numerous convoy of French and Span- 
iards who were leaving Madrid, and who would have certainly 
perished, had we forsaken them. They joined us at last on the 
I St of June, and our march was fixed for the following day. 

At three o'clock in the morning, the convoy from Madrid, and 
another ,that had assembled at Valladolid, crossed the Pisuerga, 
and the army followed in the course of the day. The King and 
his immediate suite set out at 4 p.m. and the bridge was destroyed 
after the rear-guard had passed. The entire army advanced tow- 
ards Burgos and reached the Arlanza on the 9th of June. The 
enemy, who had crossed the Douro and the Pisuerga in pursuit, 
began to press on us. We, nevertheless, halted three days at 
Burgos, partly in order that the convoy which impeded our march 
should get clear of us and advance on the road to Vittoria, and 
partly to reconnoitre certain positions in which we had at first 
thought of awaiting the enemy, and trying our chance in a battle. 
But the manoeuvres of the English, who, by bearing on our right 
flank seemed to seek rather to turn our positions than to attack 
us, and still more the indecision caused by diversity of opinion 
among our generals as to the course we ought to pursue, made 
the King resolve on crossing the Arlanza, and on evacuating Bur- 
gos without resistance. * He therefore left the city on the morn- 

* A slight engagement only took place on the evening of the I2lh of 
June, at Buniel Bridge, two leagues south of Burgos, after a reconnais- 
sance of the spot by the enemy. 



DIVIDED COUNCILS. 623 

ing of the 13th of June, after giving orders to blow up the fort, 
whose memorable defence had stayed the advance of the English 
in the preceding year, but which had neither been repaired nor 
even kept up since then. The explosion was terrible, and fatal to 
the troops which were in the act of passing through the town. 
From 1 50 to 200 French soldiers were killed or wounded by the 
bursting of shells that had been buried inside the fort, to make up 
for the insufficiency of the mining, which there had not been time 
to carry out completely. The device succeeded, but cost its 
promoters dear. Some houses in the town were injured, but 
none of the inhabitants were hurt, the streets being empty when 
the explosion took place, at six a. m. 

We continued to retreat for three days, through Villa-del-Peon, 
Briviesca and Pancorvo, where we arrived on the 15th of June, 
without being disturbed by the enemy who were taking another 
road through Santivanes. 

From the time of our leaving Valladolid until our arrival at 
Pancorvo, there had been great division in the King's Council. 
Some few, such as Count Gazan and Count d' Erlon, were openly 
in favour of waiting for the enemy as the more honourable course. 
The King was easily won over to their opinion, for he dreaded to 
be accused of avoiding a battle, and would willingly have adopted 
the more hazardous alternative, so that he might avoid any appear- 
ance of weakness. We halted at Burgos, but the idea of holding 
the place was soon given up. When we reached the defiles of 
Pancorvo, similar irresolution was manifested. Those who had 
advised fighting at Burgos, advised it now in these passes, where 
they considered the advantage of the ground would more than 
compensate for our numerical inferiority, * They urged that Wel- 
lington would never entangle himself in mountain passes beyond 
the Ebro ; that at most he would send forward a few corps of 
Spanish troops ; and would himself remain stationary with his 
best troops. They went so far as to say that perhaps he would 
cross the Ebro with his army for money, but for nothing less. 
Those Generals who were of an opposite opinion, with Marshal 
Jourdan at their head, persisted that the enemy would, on the 
contrary, never dream of attacking us in such a formidable posi- 
tion ; that he would indubitably cross the Ebro above Miranda, 

* The Pancorvo Pass is situated on the borders of Old Castille, about 
two leagues to the south of Miranda da Ebro. It lies between two steep 
mountains for the space of half a league ; a stream runs at the bottom. 
The summit of the mountain to the left of the stream is occupied by the 
impregnable fortress of Santa-Maria-en-Gracia. We left a small garri- 
son, which, wanting provisions and unable to obtain help, surrendered 
shortly after the battle of Vittoria. 



624 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

and that if we loitered at Pancorvo, we should give him time to 
take possession of the high road to Vittoria, and consequently of , 
our line of communication with France. " In short," said Mar- | 
shal Jourdan, ' ' if we are to fight, it should only be in such a po- 
sition as to maintain our communications with France and the 
possibility of our retreat thither/' 

We left Pancorvo and its passes, inefficient barriers, for they 
could be easily turned, and we fell back on the Ebro. The Army 
of the South, forming our rear-guard, remained on the road from 
Pancorvo to Vittoria ; the Army of the Centre occupied Haro, j 
and the Army of Portugal, Puente-Laza and Espejo, to observe the ^ 
enemy and the forces he might throw across the Ebro. We took 
up these various positions on the 15th and i6th of June, and thus 
the whole French army was occupying the Ebro, from Espejo on 
its right extremity, to Haro on its extreme left, a distance of about 
eight leagues along the banks of the Ebro. The King fixed his 
headquarters at Miranda da Ebro. Fresh reverses had recalled 
him to the same town where I had joined him five years before, 
after the lost battle of Baylen, and the consequent evacuation of 
Madrid. But the danger was more pressing now than in 1808, 
and our resources were not so great. 

During our march towards the Ebro, the hostile forces, continu- 
ing their movement on our right, crossed the river on the 14th 
and 15th of June by the bridges at St. Martin and Rocamunda. 
Then, coming down by the left bank, they advanced on Espejo, 
whence the Army of Portugal, too weak for resistance, was obliged 
to withdraw with loss. This attack, made b}'' three English divi- 
sions, and which showed that the whole of the hostile army had 
crossed the Ebro, made us hastily abandon both banks of the 
river, fearing that we should be cut off from the high road from 
Miranda to Vittoria. Orders were issued for the whole army to 
assemble at Puebla de Arlanzon.* After crossing the Zadora,f 
our troops took up their position on the evening of the 19th of 
June, on the heights commanding the river, about a league in 
advance of Vittoria, on either side of the high road, the greater 
proportion being however on the right. J The King passed the 
night at Vittoria. 

* A village half way between Miranda and Vittoria, having a bridge 
over the Zadora. 

f This small river runs in the environs of Vittoria, afterwards watering 
a very narrow valley near Puebla de Arlanzon, and falls into the Ebro 
below Arce-Mira-Perez. It is fordable in very many places, especially 
in summer. 

X This difficult manoeuvre had been ably effected by Marshal Jourdan. 
In one day, the whole army, which extended, as has been seen, over 
eight leagues of country, had to be collected together, in the face of an 



IRRESOLUTION. 625 



When taking up these positions, we had not yet made up our 
nind to await and encounter the enemy. Many of the King's 
idvisers recommended the evacuation of Vittoria and an advance 
n the rear of the town to the pass of Sahnas, an excellent position 
hat could not be turned, and in which we could either decline the 
combat or engage with the enemy as we chose. These persons 
epresented to the King that the army now under his command 
lad become, after our reverses in the North, the hope of France ; 
hat a lost battle would open our most defenceless frontier, and 
expose a rich country, which having for more than a century be- 
ieved itself safe from any foreign invasion, was incapable of repel- 
ing that with which it would be threatened ; lastly, that the con- 
sequences of a defeat, which would point out to our enemies a 
lew road to the heart of our country, were incalculable. 

To this it was replied, by arguments based on one consideration 
)nly, that the army would be dishonoured by leaving Spain without 
laving encountered the enemy, and that the Emperor would 
lever forgive us for abandoning his conquest without having de- 
ended it to the last extremity. It was added that to leave Vittoria 
V3,s to betray General Clausel, who had been ordered to fall back 
)n Vittoria, and whose corps, no longer finding the army under 
he walls of the town, would be endangered and perhaps destroyed. * 
3ut those who made use of this argument, the only one of any 
freight, did not reflect that the enemy would certainly not delay 
heir attack while we waited for General Clausel' s return, and that 
n the event of our defeat, his corps would incur greater danger 
han by our retreat. 

Nevertheless, a great number of our generals were in favour of 
tot abandoning Spain without fighting for it. All our young 
>fficers were of the same opinion, and sarcasms and jests were 
howered on the prudence of the opposing party ; prudence which 
i^as called by another name. 

In order to silence opposition of this kind, a great and recog- 

nemy whose superior forces might reach the road from Peubla de 
irlanzon to Vittoria before us. The movement was perfectly success- 
j1 ; a corps belonging to the Army of Portugal was detached on our left, 
nd followed a parallel route through the mountains to that taken by the 
ulk of the army, and during the whole day, the 19th of June, prevented 
tie enemy from approaching the high road. 

* It has already been seen that the corps in question, consisting of 
0,000 men, had been despatched against Mina by direct command of 
tie Emperor. It was then in Navarre at two days' march from Vittoria, 
nd only appeared in the neighbourhood of the town on the 22d of June, 
tie day after the battle. So soon as General Clausel heard of the defeat, 
e fell back hastily on the Guardia and on Tudela da Ebro, and contrived 
join the army of Aragon, with which he subsequently returned to 
^rance. 



626 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



nized authority was needed at headquarters. I have already ex- 
plained how and why Marshal Jourdan lacked such authority, al- 
though his ability, experience, and personal courage were uncon- 
tested. The King lacked it still more. 'Thus, strange to say, 
nothing was decided, and we prepared neither for battle nor for 
retreat. ^ 

The 20th of June was passed in irresolution and inaction. Mar- ' 
shal Jourdan, ill and angry, kept his room ; and the King was 
equally invisible. The convoy which had left Burgos before we 
did, and had reached Vittona on the 1 8th, was still there, having 
been detained on various pretexts ;* the town was crowded with j 
carriages and vehicles of all sorts. A train of heavy artillery, use- ] 
less in a skirmish, encumbered the outskirts, and blocked up the 
road to France, which, in the event of a reverse, would have been 
needed for our retreat. No measures had been taken to provide 
for our retreat by Salvatierra and Pampeluna, in case the former 
road were cut off by the enemy. No new dispositions were made, 
no orders issued which could lead us to foresee the events of the 
following day ; and this silence and inaction led for a moment to 
the supposition that the enemy's march had been postponed, and 
that we were in a state of security. 

During the afternoon, however, the general confidence began to 
be shaken. Towards five o'clock, the troops posted in advance 
on the road from Vittoria to Bilboa were attacked ; the enemy 
therefore seemed already to have thrown himself on the rear of our 
principal position. But the firing, which had been pretty sharp, 
ceased at nightfall, and a report was spread that we had been en- 
gaged only with a party of guerillas commanded by Longa. No- 
body, however, believed this, and the unexpected attack made us 
fear a more serious one for the ensuing day. The proposed re- 
treat was again debated, but it was now too late. Neither the 
convoy nor the train of artillery had, as yet, set out, and there 
would have been extreme danger in undertaking a night-march in 
the face of the enemy along a road encumbered with wagons and 
vehicles of all kinds. The opportunity had been missed. We 
tried to persuade ourselves that General Clausel would effect his 
junction before the Allied Army had taken up its position : there 
was nothing more to be done. The convoy at last set out at 2 
A. M. , but the artillery train had to remain where it was for want of 
horses. 

The King left Vittoria at 4 a.m. on the 21st of June, with Mar- 

* It was alleged that a desire on the part of Joseph to procure an in- 
terview with the Spanish lady I have already mentioned, and who was 
travelling with the convoy, had led to the delay. 



DEPARTURE. 627 



shal Jourdan and his staff. I started an hour later and overtook 
him at about two miles from the town, to the right of the Miranda 
road, on a mamelon in the rear of our positions. He remained 
there an hour, and then advanced about half a mile farther, still to 
the right of the road, to another mamelon. The Zadora, on our 
right, divided us from the enemy. The village of Tres Puentes, 
beyond the river, was now only occupied by a few of our sharp- 
shooters. 

The following was the position of our whole force at 6 a. m. : The 
Army of the South, on which we placed our principal reliance, 
formed the left wing, and was drawn up against the mountains 
commanding the valley of the Zadora and the basin of Vittoria. 
The Army of the Centre was in the centre, to the right of the road 
from the Puebla d'Arlanzon to Vittoria. The Army of Portugal 
formed our right wing, its extremity reaching to the road from 
Bilbao to Vittoria, in advance of the villages of Avechueco, and 
of Gamarra Major and Minor, and covering a bridge over the 
Zadora. The cavalry, placed in the rear, nearer Vittoria, was 
drawn up on ground intersected with streams and ditches, where 
it was difficult for it to act efficiently. Several mamelons protect- 
ing the line were armed with formidable batteries, others, farther 
in the rear, provided a second position on which the troops occu- 
pying the first could re-form, should they be driven back. 

Until past seven in the morning we were doubtful as to the en- 
emy' s intentions, and still supposed that he would not attack us 
that day. This notion was so widespread, that the various regi- 
ments had sent detachments into the town to procure provisions, 
and they had to be recalled in haste when the movements of the 
allies dispelled all uncertainty as to their intentions. 

Towards 8 o'clock, from the height of the mamelon on which 
we stood, we perceived the enemy defiling into the plain lying be- 
tween us and the Puebla Pass. They deployed slowly, and a col- 
umn* of great strength first advanced on our left, reaching the 
steep mountain against which our left wing was drawn up, and 
whose other side we had not been able' to occupy. Marshal Jour- 
dan, foreseeing all the consequences of this movement, despatched 
troops from the centre to the assistance of the left. Another 
equally strong column advanced at the same time on our right 
with the object of turning the batteries on our mamelons. 

The enemy opened fire at about 9 a. m. The attack on our 
left was very sharp. At the first thunder of the cannon, the King 
and Marshal Jourdan left the centre and crossing the high road, 
joined the threatened wing. I accompanied them. They halted 



* Commanded by General Hill. 



628 ' MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

at a battery which protected the defence of the village of Subijalio 
de Alava, in advance of the extreme front of our line, and a strug- 
gle commenced on that spot which lasted ned.rly two hours ; but 
in spite of the most obstinate resistance, the village was taken by 
the enemy, and after several fruitless attempts to regain it, the po- 
sition was abandoned. Our troops however retreated in good order. 

After this hard-won triumph, which cost the English many 
lives, the remainder of the Allied Army passed through the pass of 
Puebla, crossed the Zadora at Tres Puentes and attacked our cen- 
tre, while another column,* consisting partly of Spanish and 
Portuguese troops, and advancing from Murquija, marched upon 
our right by the road from Bilbao to Vittoria. 

The King and the Marshal had returned from the left to a bat- 
tery of 30 guns in the centre, raised on one of the heights of which 
I have spoken. But the movement which at the beginning of the 
action had weakened the centre, had rendered it incapable of last- 
ing resistance ; the terrible fire from our battery could not arrest 
the advance of the English, and we observed the intrepidity of that 
advance with irresistible admiration. At length, after a protracted 
resistance, our centre gave way, and fell back towards Vittoria, at 
the same moment that our left, which had been unable to defend 
Subijano, was also falling back. 

Our first position was thus completely abandoned, and the ad- 
vance of the English on the heights commanding our left forbade 
an attempt to retain the second ; we therefore only held it for the 
time necessary to cover our retreat. The enemy was at the same 
time making rapid progress on our extreme right, which the Army 
of Portugal could not arrest, notwithstanding the gallant conduct 
of the troops. They sustained the conflict with the greatest ob- 
stinacy, and were still fighting when the rest of the army was in 
retreat. 

Nothing but our cavalry could save us now ; but we found it 
still in the same spot in which we had seen it in the morning. I 
do not know why no cavalry charge was made. 

The battle was lost. It was then 4 o' clock in the afternoon, f 

* Under General Graham. 

f The forces of the Allied Army were on this occasion greatiy superior 
to our own. Judging from the movements of the enemy, I should estimate 
them at 100,000 men. Our effective forces had been much diminished by 
the loss of the Mancuiie Division, which had marched with the convoy on 
the morning of the 21st, and by that of the detachment under General 
Clausel. 

Nearly 2,000 men had remained at Vittoria in charge of the military 
stores. The cavalry made no charge. There were therefore at most, 
40,000 men actively engaged. Our artillery alone was superior to that of 
the enemy, and did its duly well. 



THE BATTLE LOST. 629 

The King and Marshal Jourdan left the battle-field, and bearing 
to the right towards Vittoria, without entering the town, reached 
the high road to France. Both the road and the plain that it 
crosses to the North of Vittoria, were obstructed by the great park 
of artillery — men were busy spiking the guns — by a train of wag- 
ons and treasure-chests, containing several millions in specie, 
which had been left open for all,* by the King's carriages ready 
for starting, by those belonging to the generals and heads of the 
military administration, and by quantities of baggage of all kinds. 

In the midst of all this we discussed the direction in which we 
should retreat with our immense convoy. The advance made by 
the enemy on our right led us to fear that the road to France was 
already cut off, and we determined to take the road to Salvatierra. 
But where was it? Which was it? How were we to find it? 
Nobody among those about the King could point it out. 

One of the great blunders of the day, as I have already said, 
was not to have foreseen that in the event of defeat it might be 
necessary to retreat on Salvaterra. No preparation had been 
made for this. Not only had the road not been repaired, but it 
had not even been reconnoitred. We only knew that Salvatierra 
was to the east of Vittoria, and no better guide was to be found 
than an inhabitant of the latter town, who had been employed in 
the King' s household, and who offered to conduct us. 

Just as we were setting out across the fields under his guidance, 
the enemy appeared on the left of the town, which had been left 
quite uncovered by the retreat of the Army of the South, and a 
strong party of hussars charged forward on the plain to the North 
of Vittoria. This unexpected attack terrified the crowd round the 
block of carriages ; and they fled in all directions, seeking the 
road to France or that to Salvatirerra. In a few moments dreadful 
confusion prevailed. The artillery men cut the traces of the gun 
carriages ; part of the troops left the ranks and sought for safety in 
panic-stricken flight ; one hundred and fourteen cannons, twenty- 
seven howitzers and their ammunition wagons, the treasure-chest 
of the army containing over twenty-five lAillions, that of the King, 
the fortunes amassed by generals, officers and civilians during five 
years of warfare, plunder and extortion, were all abandoned, and 
became the prize of the conqueror, f 

I was close to the King, whom I had not left during the whole 

* Few of our soldiers made use of their opportunity. The sudden 
arrival of the enemy on the plain behind Vittoria gave them no time in 
which to do so, and a large number did not care to delay their march. 

f M. Thibault, the King's Treasurer, who had 100,000 crowns be- 
longing to him in the Court carriages, was killed on the one in which it 
was contained, from which he would not be separated. 



630 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

of that fatal day, when the rout began. He fled, like the rest, 
and was in danger of being taken by the English hussars. I saw 
a man struck by a bullet, fall at his horse' s feet. * Fortunately 
for the King his regiment of Light Horse Guards, which had re- 
mained near him all the day, and had effected his retreat slowly 
and in good order, now came up. General Jamin, its com- 
mander, drew up his men in battle order, charged the Hussars, 
and drove them back. A considerable number of our disbanded 
soldiers, who were blocked up among the baggage, owed their 
lives to the gallant conduct of this corps, which acted as rear-guard 
to the Army of Portugal during the retreat. In the confusion 
Marshal Jourdan and several officers of the staff had been sepa- 
rated from our group. 

The fall of night, and still more the ardour of the enem}^ to 
seize on the splendid booty within their reach, saved the French 
army from total destruction. We were not hotly pursued, and 
our losses in killed and wounded were not in proportion to the 
disastrous issue of the battle ; they hardly exceeded 4000 killed 
and wounded, and a small number of prisoners. The loss of the 
allies was about the same. But Spain was irrevocably lost to the 
French, j- 

From the above details, the reader may perceive how great was 
the blame to be attached to the King and the French generals. 
The first and greatest error, was their having placed themselves 
under the necessity of fighting a battle which was, so to speak, lost 
beforehand. The utmost bravery of our troops could not avail 
against the immense disproportion in numbers and disadvantage 
of our posi^tion. Moreover the French were engaged with an en- 
emy, who, even with equal numbers, might dispute the victory. 
The English and the Portuguese displayed the utmost valour, and 
even the Spaniards distinguished themselves in the attack on our 
right. There was not therefore any chance of success for us, and 
the fatal issue was delayed only by the superiority of our artillery, 
which was worthy on this day of its ancient renown. But still 
more unpardonable was the carelessness of the King's staff, who 
had made no effort to render defeat less fatal, and whose culpa- 

* A Spaniard attached to the cause of Joseph. He exclaimed in fall- 
ing, " Muero por mi rey !" 

} The following are the official lists : 

Killed. Wounded. 

English 501 2807 

Portuguese 150 899 

Spanish 19 464 



670 4170 



RETREAT. 63 1 



ble want of foresight was the cause of immense quantities of war 
material and booty of incalculable value falling into the hands of 
the enemy. 

Meanwhile, having taken by hap-hazard the right road to Salva- 
tierra, we presently found ourselves among impassable marshes 
and deep ditches, where some persons were lost. I was very 
nearly being of the number. Having to cross one of these ditches, 
I dismounted, behind the King, who had also got off his horse ; 
but on reaching the bottom my foot slipped as I was about to 
climb the opposite side. My horse who was following me was 
checked by the involuntary jerk which I gave his bridle in my fall, 
and rolled over with me with all his weight. I remained for a 
few moments unconscious, and when I had regained my senses 
and was able to remount, the King and his suite were out of 
sight. I wandered on, hap-hazard, for four leagues, following the 
crowd of fugitives before me, and led, or rather carried along, by 
them, I at last reached the walls of Salvatierra at 1 1 p. m. By a 
fortunate chance, I met the King at the gates. He had seen me 
a few hours previously lying in the ditch, which he had crossed 
without accident, and had never expected to see me again. We 
entered the town, where we found a small French garrison to- 
gether. 

I was at supper with the King, M. O'Faril and Count d'Erlon 
when Marshal Jourdan arrived. As he came in, he said, " Well ! 
you would have a battle, and now it is lost !" Then he sat down 
to table, shared our meagre repast, and nothing more was said on 
the subject. I withdrew at midnight to the quarters which the 
commandant of the garrison had been so good as to assign to me, 
and in spite of the emotions of the day, or perhaps because of 
them, I slept soundly for three hours. I no longer possessed 
anything but the clothes I wore, and two horses, the one I rode, 
and one ridden by a servant who had joined me. My other 
horses and mules and my baggage were lost, as were also some of 
my papers and a few valuables which I had left in the King's car- 
riages. There was nothing therefore to impede my journey, and 
I was up at daybreak. 

We continued our retreat on that and the following day by very 
bad roads and in wretched weather. We contrived however to 
rally a few corps, and to restore some semblance of order. The 
Army of Portugal, under General Reille, and which continued to 
act as our rear-guard, covered our march and kept off the enemy, 
who were, besides, eagerly reaping the fruits of victory and dis- 
played no great activity in pursuit. Through Countess Gazan, 
who had remained at Vittoria, and whom Lord Wellington sent, 
with every mark of courtesy, to rejoin her husband, we learned 



632 ' MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that all those belonging to the French army who had been unable 
to follow us in our precipitate retreat, were treated with great hu- 
manity by the enemy. This was a consolation. 

On the 23d of June, in the afternoon, we came to the high 
road from Tolosa to Pampeluna, at the village of Irunson. There 
we divided our forces ; the Army of Portugal bearing towards San- 
Esteban, and the Armies of the South and Centre, with the King, 
towards Pampeluna. We reached that town on the same day at 

8 P.M. 

We remained there all the 24th. The enemy appeared between 
Irunson and the town, and some guns were fired on a detachment 
we had left outside, but no serious engagement ensued. Our 
troops came into the town which the English were not then pre- 
pared to besiege. From Pampeluna the Army of the South ad- 
vanced towards Roncesvalles, so as to enter France by St. Jean 
Pied de Port, and it was decided that the King and Marshal Jour- 
dan with the Army of the Centre should effect their retreat by 
Ostiz, Lauz and the Col de Bate, so as to reach the valley of 
Bastan. 

In accordance with these arrangements we left Pampeluna at 
midnight on the 24th of June, leaving behind us a garrison of 
4000 men, and we passed the night of the 25th at Lauz. We re- 
sumed our march on the following morning at 5 a.m., and at 
seven we crossed the Col de Bate. We then entered the valley 
of Bastan and passed the night at Elizondo, the principal village 
in the valley. * We found it well populated and able to afford us 
food and shelter. The Army of the Centre remained at Elizondo, 
with orders to retreat by the Col de Maya, if driven from that posi- 
tion. The King resolved on rejoining, with his Guard, the Army 
of Portugal, which after separating from us at Irunson, was now 
advancing on the Bidassoa through San Esteban. We therefore 
left Elizondo in the morning, and took the Col de Maya road so 
far as Ariscon. Then, turning to the left, we crossed the high 
mountains of Achetcyola, in order to reach the Col d'Echalar, 
whence we descended to the village of the same name, one of the 
principal villages of the valley of Cincovillas, situated on the right 
bank of the Bidassoa. Then we followed the course of the river 
as far as Vera, the last Spanish town in that part of the Pyrenean 
frontier. We arrived there on the 27th at eight in the evening, 

* This lovely, valley, one of the pleasantest and best cultivated in the 
Pyrenees, forms a kind of republic ruled by special laws and customs. 
One of these forbids the inhabitants to acquire or to hold more than a 
certain amount of land. Nearly every family bears a chessrboard in its 
coat of arms, as a symbol of this equality in the distribution of land. I 
remarked the same design painted on the houses. 



ST. JEAN DE LUZ. 633 



after a march of twelve hours on bad roads and in frightful weather. 
The next day, the 28th of June, we were in France. The King 
fixed his headquarters at St. Jean de Luz. The headquarters of the 
Army of Portugal were at Irun, on the left bank of the Bidassoa. 

It would be difficult to describe the various sensations I experi- 
enced when, on descending the last mountain-slopes on the morn- 
ing of the 28th, I discerned the smiling plains and fertile fields 
round about St. Jean de Luz ; when I once more saw the soil of 
France, that beloved country whence I had so long been exiled, 
and to which I was returning after enduring, far from her, so 
much grief and suffering. But these meditations were soon dis- 
pelled, when I reflected on the evils we were bringing in our train. 
We were arriving with a defeated army, pursued by powerful foes. 
The cultivated and quiet fields on which I gazed were about to 
become the theatre of war, if we found ourselves once more able 
to resist, or the prey of the victor if we could not do so. Our re- 
turn was a calamity for the industrious inhabitants of those parts, 
who for more than a century had seen no enemy in their country. 
Fear and terror were our heralds, and far from being welcomed 
with shouts of joy, silence was the best reception we could hope 
for, and the only one we had a right to expect. 

When we had reached the high road from Irun to St. Jean de 
Luz my reflections assumed a still gloomier character. The con- 
voy that had left Vittoria on the morning of the 21st of June had 
successfully crossed the frontier, and was advancing towards the 
interior of France ; but it had spread the tidings on its way that a 
great battle was about to take place on the very day of its depart- 
ure. Accounts of our defeat had soon followed, and had been 
received with dismay in all the country lying between the Bidassoa 
and Bayonne. We saw on the high road an immense number of 
vehicles drawn by oxen and loaded with household goods that the 
owners were trying to save from pillage, by removing them to the 
towns, where they believed they would be safer than in the coun- 
try. The spectres of war and desolation rose from beneath our 
feet, and the delusive delight which the first glimpse of France had 
produced for a moment faded away, to make room for a terrible 
reality. 

I did not remain long at St. Jean de Luz. On the day follow- 
ing that of our arrival in the town, I was informed by the Kmg 
that he had selected me to undertake a mission to the Emperor, 
who was then at Dresden. I was to bear to him the news of our 
reverses, and answer any questions he might put to me concernmg 
the various events that had preceded and followed the battle of 
Vittoria. The King thought me better qualified than others to re- 
ply to such questioning. I had never left him since our departure 



634 . MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

from Valladolid ; I had seen everything with my own eyes, and 
notwithstanding all the disorder and confusion about us, I had, 
according to custom, made notes, daily, of the occurrences I had 
witnessed. This was a hard task. I should, no doubt, be badly 
received, and still worse treated after my news had been heard. 
Yet I felt bound to undertake the mission, as a proof of my fidel- 
ity in the presence of great misfortune. 

The King passed the 30th of June in preparing the despatches of 
which I was to be the bearer. They consisted of an official letter 
to the Emperor, recounting in detail the recent events in Spain. 
He attributed our reverse's tq the want of harmony between the 
generals and himself, and their insubordination ; to the great 
superiority of the enemy' s forces, and to the state of public feeling 
which was constantly misguided. The King sent an almost simi- 
lar despatch to the Duke of Feltre, and forwarded a copy of the 
latter to the Prince of Neuchatel. * To these official documents, 
the King added two private and confidential autograph letters. 
The first, addressed to the Emperor, and intended as an introduc- 
tion for me, was as follows : 

•* Sire, 

** M. Miot, Councillor of State, is the bearer of this letter to 
your Imperial Majesty. I beg you to send him back to me with 
your decision. 

" Eight years ago, your Imperial and Royal Majesty, of your 
own accord, sent M. Miot, Councillor of State, to me, that I 
might appoint him to a ministry. I conferred on him the Min- 
istry of theTnterior, and as a proof of my appreciation of his ex- 
cellent services, I gave him, before leaving the kingdom of Naples, 
the title of Count of Melito. He has borne it for a considerable 
time in Spain. I now entreat your Imperial and Royal Majesty 
to do me the favour of allowing him to continue to bear this title. 
He is the only man of any consideration appointed to my court by 
your Majesty, when I went to Naples, who has not forsaken me 
in the long and painful trials I have endured since I have been in 
Spain. M. Miot can tell your Majesty everything ; he knows my 
heart, and can give every detail, whether political, military, or 
domestic. 

** I am, etc. 

" St. Jean de Luz, July i, 1813." 

The second autograph letter was to the Prince of Neuchatel, and 
contained these words only : 

* The reader will find the King's letter to the Minister of War, ap- 
pended to this chapter. ~ 



THE KING'S LETTERS. 635 

" M. Miot, who is about to proceed to the Imperial head- 
quarters, will tell you of our misfortunes. Under present circum- 
stances I greatly rely on the friendship of which your Highness 
has given me so many proofs, both as regards the matters on which 
M. Miot will confer with you, and with respect to himself. I 
specially recommend him to the kindness of your Highness. 

* * I am, etc. 

" St. Jean de Luz, July i, 1813." 

On handing me the above letters and the accompanying de- 
spatches, the King directed me to pass through Vichy, where the 
Queen was then staying for her health, to communicate my mis- 
sion to her, to explain his reasons for confiding it to me, and not 
to resume my journey without receiving her commands. He 
wrote to her also, begging her to supply me with the necessary 
funds for travelling, as both the King and I had lost everything in 
our flight from Vittoria, and neither of us could provide for the 
expenses of the journey. 

I left St. Jean de Luz on the evening of the ist of July, and 
reached Bayonne on the following morning. I then travelled post 
both day and night, and arrived at Vichy on the 7th at 3 p. m. 
My unexpected arrival greatly alarmed the Queen ; she thought I 
had come to announce the death of her husband. Having recov- 
ered herself, she listened sorrowfully to the melancholy intelligence 
which I had to impart. But when she understood that I was to 
carry this news to the Emperor, she utterly disapproved of the 
King's selection of a messenger. She said the Emperor would 
be greatly displeased that the mission was not confided to a mili- 
tary man, that I should be badly received, if received at all, and 
that he would not listen to me. *' The Emperor," she said, ** is 
no longer the same as -when you knew him ; he retains no recol- 
lection of former friendships. Everything must bend to his will. 
He will not recognise you. People approach him in fear and 
trembling. Moreover he is, at the present moment, in a fearfully 
difficult position. Last year's reverses have changed his character ! 
In his present state of mind, it would be useless to appeal, on 
behalf of your mission, to a former friendship which it would give 
him more pain than pleasure to remember. 

These words were not very encouraging ; but as similar ideas 
had already occurred to me, and as I had anticipated almost all 
that was predicted, I persisted in my resolve. The Queen and 
her sister, the Princess of Sweden, who was with her at Vichy, vainly 
endeavoured to dissuade me. I made up my mind to resume my 
journey on the following day. The Count de Jaucourt, the King' s 
First Chamberlain, and a former colleague of mine at the Tribu- 



636 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

nate, who was in attendance on the Queen at Vichy, gave me a 
letter to the Prefect of the Allier, requesting him in the name of 
the Queen, to grant me a passport, which I was to obtain in pass- 
ing through MouHns. * 

Just as I was taking leave of the Queen, on the evening of the 
8th of July, an officer arrived, who had been despatched to her by 
the Duke of Feltre. He brought her a letter from the Minister, 
announcing that the Emperor, who was already aware of recent 
events in Spain, had directed the King to leave the army, recalled 
Marshal Jourdan, ordering him to retire to his country seat with- 
out passing through Paris, and despatched the Duke of Dalmatia 
from Dresden, giving him the command-in-chief over all the troops 
still in Spain or on the frontiers. The Minister begged the Queen 
to use all her influence with her husband to persuade him to com- 
ply with these arrangements with a good grace. He informed her 
at the same time that Count Roederer, in whom the King had 
great confidence, was now on his way to him, entrusted by the 
Emperor with various explanations calculated to lessen the morti- 
fication which these proceedings, necessitated by events, might 
cause him. The bearer of the letter added further details. He 
said that the Emperor had issued orders forbidding travellers com- 
ing from the Army of Spain to cross the Garonne, and specially 
commanding that none should be allow^ed to reach his headquar- 
ters. His wish was to keep the particulars of recent events secret 
as far as possible, fearing that if they came to be known they might 
have an adverse influence on the negotiations in which he was 
then engaged. 

How was my mission to be carried out under these circum- 
stances ? What were my means for fulfilling it ? Of what use 
would it be to the King, since all the evil it was intended to pre- 
vent was already accomplished ? Had not the Emperor already 
formed his own opinion on Spanish affairs ? And supposing I 
could succeed in seeing him, which was now more than ever un- 
likely, how could I hope to change it ? Was it not more reason- 
able to return to the King, to share the exile to which he would be 
condemned, and to make use of my influence to avert any ex- 
treme and fatal resolution on his part ? Such were the arguments 
brought forward by the Queen and the Princess of Sweden, to in- 
duce me to give up my journey to Dresden, and they were not 
without effect. I resisted for some time, but at last I was per- 
suaded, and I agreed to retrace my steps. Although I was con- 

* I had come to Vichy with a passport granted me by Marshal Jourdan 
at St. Jean de Luz, but I had frequently met with difficulties on present- 
ing it, because it was not drawn up in the ordinary form. 



A MEETING. Ci^ 



vinced at the time, as I am now, that by taking a contrary resolu- 
tion, I should not have served the King better than by returning 
to him, I cannot forgive myself for this act of weakness. I have 
frequently reproached myself for having yielded to the representa- 
tions and entreaties of the Queen. 

I was on my way to Bayonne, when at Biandes, the last post- 
town before arriving thither, I met the King who had set out on 
the morning of the 1 5th of July. He was in no way surprised at 
my return ; after what had taken place since our parting, he 
seemed to expect it. He had refused to see Marshal Soult, who 
had just arrived at headquarters ; but had held several long conver- 
sations with Count Roederer, who had afterwards taken leave of 
him and returned to Paris. But these conversations had not re- 
stored him to calmness ; his discontent was deep, and when with 
me it was unrestrained. He was looking out for a retired spot in 
the neighbourhood, where he might remain until he could remove 
to Morfontaine. We stayed for a couple of days at Puyhoo, seven 
or eight leagues from Bayonne, in order to make the requisite in- 
quiries. The Chateau de Poyanne, two leagues from Tartas on 
the left bank of the Adour, in a very retired part of the country, 
was recommended to us. Joseph agreed to take it, and we estab- 
lished ourselves there. The King's suite consisted of M. Paroisse 
his physician, M. Presle, private secretary, M. O'Faril, General 
Desprez, who had returned to him after his mission to Moscow, 
General Espert, my brother Colonel Miot, a few other Spanish and 
French officers, and myself. We remained a week in this solitary 
place. At the expiration of that time the King received a letter 
from the Minister of War, intimating that the Emperor approved 
of the King's withdrawing from the Spanish frontiers, and that 
until further orders he might reside at Morfontaine. But he was 
directed to travel under the strictest incognito, without any suite, 
and not to pass through Paris. 

The day after these orders reached us, Count d'Angosse, Pre- 
fect of the Department of the Landes, arrived at Poyannes, having 
received instructions to provide us with passports. The King's 
was made out in the name of Count de Survilliers, * and the mem- 
bers of his suite then with him also received passports empowering 
them to retire to various parts of France. We made our prepara- 
tions for departure and for a separation that was painful to all of 
us. Adversity had formed us into a kind of family, and the tie 
was not broken without pain. 

The King, who did not wish for any leave-taking, quitted the 



* The name of an estate near Morfontaine which also belonged to 
him. He retained this title in the United States. 



* 



638, MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

place on horseback with me at 5 a.m. on the 24th of July. After 
crossing the Adour, we took post at Campagne on the Mont de 
Marsan road. We had but one carriage, in which the King trav- 
elled with his physician and myself. We proceeded thus, stopping 
at none of the principal towns, passing through Bordeaux, 
Perigueux, Limoges and Orleans, w^here we were not recognised, 
or at least we thought we were not. On reaching Croix de Berny, 
the last post before Paris, the King resolved, notwithstanding the 
Emperor's commands that he should not enter Paris, to bargain 
with the postmaster, who undertook to convey us directly to St. 
Denis without changing' horses. We drove across the capital at 2 
o'clock A.M. and reached Morfontaine, at last, at 5 a.m. on the 
30th of July. Two days afterwards, the Queen joined her hus- 
band, and so soon as I had seen him reunited to his family, I went 
to Versailles to pass a few days with mine, whom I had not seen 
since I parted with them at Valencia, in September of the preced- 
ing year. After a short absence I returned to take up my abode 
at Morfontaine. 

We were in exile ; we were forbidden to appear in Paris, and 
although this command was not very strictly observed by the King, 
who went several times to the capital to witness theatrical perform- 
ances, I, for my own part, conformed to it without regret. I was 
dwelling in a lovely spot, at a beautiful season of the year ; after 
many trials, I enjoyed perfect repose, and my days passed tran- 
quilly away. Dividing my time between study and exercise in the 
open air, I resumed my literary occupations. We were, moreover, 
in complete ignorance of what was taking place around us. The 
Emperor did not write to his brother ; none of the Ministers had 
permission to visit the King, and we obtained all our information 
from the Moniteur, at that time less veracious than ever. We 
only knew that after the conclusion of an armistice, on the preced- 
ing 4th of June, negotiations had been commenced, and a con- 
gress opened at Prague ; and we hoped, because we greatly wished, 
that those negotiations might bring about a peace, the need of 
which was felt by everyone in France, except, perhaps, the one man 
on whom it depended. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Letter from King Joseph to the Duke of Feltre, Minister of 

War at Paris. 

St. Jean de Luz, June 29, 18 13. 
Monsieur le Due : I have received your letters of the i8th and 20th 
inst. Events have unhappily belied the hopes you gave that General 
Clausel would join me, dissipated the fear that I should persist in with- 
drawing from the country without a battle, and refuted your apparent 
conviction that the enemy was not greatly stronger than myself. 

It is, perhaps, useless to ask you at the present time to consider how 
little comparison can be made between the retreat of the army of Portu- 
gal, from which the enemy was obliged to retire, because of the presence 
of the Army of the Centre in the province of Segovia, and also because 
he wanted to occupy Madrid, and a retreat at the end of the campaign, 
by the junction of that army with the Army of the South, and their 
arrival on the communications of the enemy, who could no longer remain 
before Burgos. 

As to the reparation, the armament and the victualling of Burgos, I 
could only write orders for these things and acquaint you that I had done 
so. But as I could as little obtain obedience from an army which never 
owned my authority as from that of Aragon and Catalonia, I am as little 
accountable for Tortosa as for Pampeluna. I learned the situation of 
the latter only by going thither myself. 

It seems also useless to repeat what I have so often said, that I deny 
any real success having been gained over Mina, and that the war could 
only be stopped by driving out the English, and healing the wounds of 
the nation. I have several times compared this war to that of La 
Vendee. 

In order to beat the English, it was necessary that the three armies be- 
fore whom they had retreated in the preceding campaign, should remain 
united, or ready to be united at the first signal. They ought to have 
been fresh, and their ranks complete. Instead of this, they were ex- 
hausted in the pursuit of Mina and his bands ; their divisions were 
reduced to 3000 and even 2000 fighting men. The Armies of the Centre 
and South had hard work in keeping the country and the enemy in check, 
and in raising taxes to enable them to exist. Magazines were not estab- 
lished on the line, nor were the fortresses victualled. Neither the central 
administration nor my authority was recognised. The general headquar- 
ters that I set up at Salamanca in November were not approved, and M. 
Mathieu Faviers was only acknowledged as head of the administration 
when it was already too late, and the campaign was beginning : he 
received his powers at the beginning of June. 



640 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Direct correspondence between Paris and the Generals-in-chief of three 
armies on the same ground continued to prevent the unity and ensemble 
necessary to success. The surplus of one army never helped another. 
Having no staff, it was impossible for me to' give the necessary direc- 
tions to secure that all our efforts should tend simultaneously to one end. 
You oblige me, Monsieur le Due, to recur to these facts, because your 
despatches incessantly remind me of them, at a time, when, harassed with 
anxieties of all kinds, I employed every faculty of my mind in devising 
means for arresting the advance of the enemy, and for the defence of the 
French frontiers which are threatened in all directions. 1 repeat it, the 
exertions of the English, of the Spaniards, and of the Portuguese are 
great, and at the present day they all know how to fight. On the part of 
France great efforts should be made to provide men and ammunition in 
order to stop the enemy on the frontiers. 

The armies of Spain need re-organisation. Four armies cannot act 
harmoniously. The soldier, accustomed to live on what he can pick up, 
is not with his colours when wanted. The spirit of disorder and pillage 
makes greater progress every day ; the chiefs feel that the soldiers must 
live ; everybody becomes accustomed to a spectacle of disorder, and, 
marching through a country without magazines, before enemies well 
supplied not only from their own stores, but by the inhabitants, who 
draw comparisons between those who rob them and those who pay, we 
cannot hope for success. 

So long as a different state of things does not prevail it seems to me 
unreasonable to think of acting on the offensive. 

Your demand. Monsieur le Due, for part of the cavalry from the 
Armies of the Centre, of Portugal, and of the South, removes all doubt on 
this head. Therefore, however great my reluctance to weaken the army 
at a moment when the enemy may make an attack on the frontier, I yield 
an absolute obedience, and I am issuing orders for the departure of the 
Cavalry Corps for which you ask in your letter of the 24th. 

Several generals are also being withdrawn from the army. 

I think that the arrival of some generals possessing the Emperor's con- 
fidence, who have been with him during his successful campaigns in the 
North, would come as the bearers of his commands, and would exercise 
a salutary moral influence over the army. 

I am still without news of Marshal Suchet. I only know what you tell 
me concerning him. Nor have I any news of General Clausel, etc. . . . 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Objections made by the Police to Joseph's occasional visits to Paris — 
Bernadotte joins the allies against France — Curious assemblage of per- 
sons at Morfontaine — Senatus-Consultum authorising the levy of 280,000 
men — Adverse state of public opinion — Leipsic on i8th and 19th of 
October — Progress of disaffection towards the Emperor — Arrival of 
Napoleon at St. Cloud — The King's interview with the Emperor — Na- 
poleon insists that his brother shall abdicate the throne of Spain — Hesi- 
tation of the King — The situation becomes more difficult — Opening of 
the Corps L^gislatif — The Emperor tries in vain to lead public opinion 
in a favourable direction — The King in a letter to the Emperor, dated 
29th of December, at last consents to abdicate on certain conditions — 
His letter remains unanswered — On hearing of the summary dissolu- 
tion of the Corps L6gislatif Joseph writes a second time to his brother 
— The Emperor delaying to reply, the King sends the Author to Paris 
to investigate matters — Narrative of the events which brought about 
the dissolution of the Corps Legislatif — Sensation produced in Paris 
and the departments by that measure — Interviews of the Author with 
the Duke de Vicenza and King Louis — Joseph removes to Paris and 
establishes himself at the Luxembourg — Third letter from the King to 
the Emperor, who considers it too emphatic — An interview with the 
Prince of Neuchatel again angers the King, who wishes to retire — the 
Author persuades him to confer with the Spanish Ministers — After this 
conference Joseph writes a fourth letter to the Emperor which is at 
r length approved — It is agreed that the King shall bear henceforth the 
title of King Joseph — The Author returns to the Council of State — 
Treaty of Valensgay, restoring the throne of Spain to Ferdinand VII. 
— Progress of the Allied Armies — The Emperor before placing himself 
at the head of his army, regulates the form of government during his 
absence — Grand audience, to which the officers of the newly organised 
National Guard of Paris are admitted— Napoleon sets out on the 25th 
of January, 18 14. 

My peaceful life at Morfontaine was soon disturbed by the great 
events which marked the close of 1813, and also by some private 
circumstances. I will relate the latter first. On the 23d of August 
I received a note from the Duke of Rovigo, the Minister of Police, 
begging me to call upon him. Although it was courteously 
worded, this note inspired me with dread. What could the Police 
want with me .? What had I to do with that formidable authority .? 
I communicated the ill-omened despatch to the King, who was as 
unable as I to explain or guess at its meaning, but he advised me 
to comply with the Duke's request ; and my own intention was 
certainly not to evade it. The next day I went to Paris, and pre- 



642 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

sented myself at the Duke of Rovigo's house. I was summoned 
to his presence almost immediately. An usher showed me into the 
Minister's cabinet. His manner was by no means inimical. He 
received me very kindly, and said that, knowing my attachment to 
the King, and the trust reposed in me by His Majesty, he had 
thought it well to send for me that he might acquaint me with 
certain circumstances which concerned him. ' ' The Emperor, ' ' 
he continued, " has been informed that his brother frequently visits 
Paris in strict incognito, and that you sometimes accompany him. 
These visits, of which I also, as Minister of Police, am aware, are 
very objectionable ; they might lead to some unfortunate encounter, 
and, under present circumstances, anything which might reveal the 
coolness unfortunately existing between the brothers would be 
detrimental to the interests of both. If the King has personal 
reasons for coming to Paris, it would be better to notify his inten- 
tions to the Police, who would take precautions to remove the 
dangers to which he exposes himself by these mysterious journeys. ' ' 
The Duke of Rovigo added that, " feeling confident of my influ- 
ence over the King — which, he was happy to assure me, was in no 
way displeasing to the Emperor — he hoped I would use it in the 
present instance to persuade the King to a course of conduct 
which he would certainly never regret. ' ' 

This, as the reader will perceive, was an intimation to me that 
the King must not come to Paris without leave, asked and obtained 
beforehand, from the Police, who would set their agents to dog 
his footsteps. 

I answered that, ' ' although the King honoured me with some 
confidence, and frequently gave me proofs of it, I had no right to 
ask him to confide to me his private actions, that I had no desire 
to be informed of proceedings which he chose to conceal from 
me ; that I had been unaware of several of his visits to Paris, and 
that with respect to those occasions on which I had accompanied 
him, I should have thought I insulted him by supposing for a 
moment that he was not free to go and come as he chose, or by 
inquiring his motives, if he thought proper to withhold them ; but 
that I would faithfully repeat to him what I had been told, and 
that it would be for him to decide what steps it would be proper 
for him to take. ' ' 

The Duke of Rovigo seemed satisfied with my reply ; we parted 
on good terms, and I returned to Morfontaine that evening. The 
King was glad to hear that the subject of the interview had been 
of no greater importance, and, as may easily be supposed, he gave 
up his visits to Paris rather than submit to the conditions imposed. 
Nothing more was said on the subject, and graver cares, more 
serious fears, soon occupied our minds. 



~ A STRANGE ASSEMBLAGE. 643 

The armistice had come to an end on the loth of August, the 
Congress of Prague was dissolved, and hostiUties had recommenced 
on the 15th. Austria declared war against us, and the fragile fam- 
ily ties formed by the marriage of the Emperor were broken. 
Sweden also declared against us, and Bernadotte, the French gen- 
eral on whom the succession to the throne he had conferred, who 
had acquired his military renown among French soldiers whom he 
had often led to victory, had put himself at the head of one of the 
armies about to wage war against his country, to overthrow the 
Emperor and destroy his dynasty. A proclamation published by 
him on the 15th of August, appealed to foreign arms against his 
countrymen ! Whatever blame might at that time have been in- 
curred by Napoleon, however great were the calamities heaped on 
France and Europe by his insatiable ambition, it was not for a 
French general to head a hostile army against him ; it was not for 
a man who had profited by Napoleon's ambition and lust of« 
conquest, to assume the task of punishing so illustrious a crimi- 
nal. 

In the circle in which I was then living, nothing could make a 
greater impression than the news of the march of the Pnnce Royal 
of Sweden. When it reached us, the Princess, his wife, was at 
Morfontaine, and, although the tender love felt for her by her sis- 
ter the Queen of Spain, and the consideration due to that natural 
affection, hindered us from showing our feelings in the presence of 
those ladies, they weighed all the more heavily on our hearts, and 
we often found it difficult to conceal them. 

At the period of which I speak, towards the middle of Septem- 
ber, the Queen of Westphalia came to Morfontaine accompanied 
by a brilliant court. Her arrival announced another defeat ; the 
success of the allies had forced her to leave Cassel, whither she 
never returned. For her sake and our own it was to be wished 
that she had visited beautiful Morfontaine in happier days ; she 
would have enjoyed it more, and could have made herself better 
known. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the melancholy cir- 
cumstances, her presence lent a certain charm to the scene. She 
was beautiful and amiable ; she endeavoured to please, and suc- 
ceeded in pleasing. 

There was a curious assemblage at that time at Morfontaine. 
There was a King of Spain, who did not possess one inch of Span- 
ish territory ; the wife of a French general, who had been raised to 
the rank of Prince, and had become our deadly enemy ; a Princess, 
daughter of the King of Wiirtemberg, who had given her in mar- 
riage to a brother of Napoleon, who in a short time would join the 
coalition against the Emperor ; Spanish, German, and French 
courtiers without a court ; and, to crown all, the Patriarch of the 



644 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Indies and Grand Inquisitor of Spain * occasionally said mass for 
us. Shooting, fishing, picnics, the pleasures of the table, and 
cards, drew all these people together, somewhat surprised at find- 
ing themselves in each other's company. We were trying to for- 
get our cares until the storm that was gathering in the distance 
should burst overhead and scatter us. 

It was approaching swiftly. Every day the most alarming 
rumours reached us. All that we heard of the state of feeling in 
Germany foreboded that most terrible of wars — a people's war. 
The ferment of patriotism and national fanaticism had reached the 
highest pitch, and a horror of the French name had become gen- 
eral. The struggle was no longer with cabinets or with sovereigns, 
but with peoples, animated alike by their enmit}^ to us, and by 
their hopes of obtaining, if we were beaten, the freedom and the 
institutions promised them in return for their sacrifices. These 
promises were ill kept in the sequel. 

While each bulletin arriving from our armies, in spite of Lhe 
official veil thrown over military operations, brought us news of 
further reverses, the aspect of things at home became more threat- 
ening every moment. Alarm and distrust were universal ; trade 
was at a standstill ; and the public funds, fallen below 60, men- 
aced us with still more complete ruin. Further sacrifices of men 
and money were demanded of France. The Empress went herself 
to the Senate on the 8th of October, to ask for a Senatus-Consul- 
tum, authorizing the levy of 280,000 men. The Senate, servile 
as usual, granted it, as it had granted all the others, but the weight 
of this fresh conscription fell entirely on France proper. In the 
assessment of the contingent of each department, we no longer 
read the names of those composed of Dutch territory, nor of those 
beyond the Rhine, nor of those among which a part of Italy had 
been divided. The gigantic Empire, built up at so great a cost, 
was disappearing ; two unsuccessful campaigns had brought it 
down. 

At last we heard of the fatal days of Leipsic, the i8th and 19th 
of October. The news reached us, exaggerated by all that fear, 
credulity, and especially malignity could add in the shape of shame- 
ful details. The King, who received no official communications 
as to the nature and reality of our disasters, and who was alarmed 
by vague information, sent me to the Minister of Police to obtain 
more positive accounts, and, if possible, to elicit the truth from 
him. I accordingly went to Paris on the ist of November, and I 
saw the Minister. He did not disguise the disasters of Leipsic, 

* He had been grand Almoner to King Joseph, and had followed him 
to France. 



FOUNDERING. 645 



but tried to reassure me as to the consequences. He did not be- 
lieve the evil to be so great as had been represented. The Em- 
peror was at Gotha, and was falling back on Fulda, where it was 
{supposed he would arrive before the enemy. The strength of the 
French was still estimated at 100, 000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 
400 guns. Frankfort was covered by a corps of 25,000 men 
'under Marshal Kellerman, but Cassel had been abandoned by the 
King of Westphalia, and the enemy had appeared at Hanau, a few 
leagues from Frankfort. This was all the Minister of Police could 
tell me, and it was not very encouraging. It was still doubtful 
whether our troops could retreat upon the Rhine, and, even sup- 
posing that some fortunate chance enabled them to do so, would 
they reach the river in time to fortify or defend our frontiers, and 
prevent the enemy from crossing the last barrier in his way, and 
penetrating into ancient France ? Paris presented a profoundly 
gloomy aspect, and I observed one most unfavourable symptom of 
public feeling ; this was that, notwithstanding the mortification 
caused by our military misfortunes, a sort of satisfaction at the 
Emperor's reverses, because they were a punishment of his am- 
bition, was apparent. France and her chief were looked upon as 
separate, and the humiliation of the Emperor seemed a consolation 
for the evils that were coming upon the country. The funds had 
fallen to 50. 

I had barely got back to Morfontaine with the scanty particulars 
I had obtained, when we heard that the army which was in retreat, 
after defeating the Bavarians near Hanau, had reached the Rhine ; 
that the Emperor himself had been at Mayence on the 2d of No- 
vember, and that he was momentarily expected at St. Cloud, 
where, in fact, he arrived on the 8th. As he seemed at first not to 
be aware that his brother was at Morfontaine, and as he made no 
communication relating to affairs to him, I had not any oppor- 
tunity of learning facts which might throw light on the events then 
taking place. We, like the rest of the world, learned from the 
newspapers, or from accounts more or less accurate, the progress 
of the enemy ; the entry of the Prince Royal of Sweden into Hol- 
land, forcing the Duke of Placentia to leave Amsterdam, where he 
had resided with extraordinary powers since the abdication of King 
Louis ; the reverses of the army of Spain, under the Duke of Dal- 
matia, who lost both Pampeluna and St. Sebastian, the only two 
strongholds we had retained in the country ; finally, the financial 
measures taken by the Council of State, and by which it was hoped 
we might dispense with the concurrence of the Corps Legislatil 
There was some hesitation about convening that body. All these 
things are to be found in the newspapers and writings of the day, 
and 1 shall confine myself to those particulars which the recall of 



646 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the King to public affairs, and my own return to the Council of 
State, enabled me to ascertain. 

We were still at Morfontaine ; the Queen of Westphalia had left 
us to join her husband at the Palace of Compiegne, which the Em- 
peror had assigned to him as a residence. We went there to see 
him, but found he knew no more than ourselves. The Emperor 
had banished him also from his presence, and had not yet received 
him. Nearly all November thus passed away without effecting any 
change in our situation. Some visits that Queen Julia had made 
to Paris to induce the Emperor to decide the fate of her husband, 
whose position and title became daily more embarrassing, had re- 
sulted in nothing, notwithstanding the Emperor's habitual con- 
sideration for his sister-in-law. The King was beginning to de- 
spair of ever obtaining an explanation, when, on the 2 7th of No- 
vember, he received a note, inviting him to go to Paris for the pur- 
pose of an interview with the Emperor on the following evening. 
Both the journey and its object were enveloped in profound 
secrecy. The King started with me at four in the afternoon, and 
we reached Count Roederer's house at eight. Shortly after our 
arrival, M. de Flahaut, aide-de-camp to the Emperor, came to 
convey the King to the Tuileries, where he was introduced into the 
Emperor's cabinet by a secret staircase. The interview was 
lengthy ; it was midnight when the King returned to Count 
Roederer's house, and we immediately set out for Morfontaine, 
where we arrived at 4 a.m. on the 29th of November. There had 
been scarcely time for the absence of the King to be observed. 

During the drive from Paris to Morfontaine, the King gave me 
the follo"Sving particulars of the interview with his brother. 

The Emperor had not in any way reproached the King with his 
reverses in Spain ; indeed, he could not have done so without in- 
justice, for they were, in great part, his own doing. He made no 
reference to the past, but dealt entirely with the present and the 
future. 

" My present position," he said to the King, " no longer allows 
me to think of foreign domination, and I shall deem myself fortu- 
nate if, on making peace, I can retain the ancient territory of 
France. Everything at this moment is threatening me with de- 
struction. My armies are annihilated, and the losses they have 
sustained cannot be repaired without extreme difficulty. Holland 
is slipping from us irrevocably, Italy is wavering, the conduct of 
the King of Naples is causing me well-founded alarm ; he is mak- 
ing terms with the English. He is led by the Duke de Campo 
Chiaro and the Marquis de Gallo. * The first is in the pay of 

* They had both belonged to the Neapolitan Ministry during the reign 



A STATE OF HESITATION. 647 

England, and the second is in the pay of Austria. If their defec- 
tion has not actually taken place, at least there is nothing to hope 
for from Naples. The succour that should have been afforded to 
the Viceroy does not arrive, although he needs it urgently ; the 
Austrians are pressing on him, the Italians under his rule hesitate. 
Devoted to me in prosperity, profuse in their professions of zeal 
and attachment so long as I was fortunate and powerful, they turn 
with 'the wind of fortune, and are ready to fail me utterly. Bel- 
gium and the Rhine provinces are also showing signs of discontent, 
and do not enter heartily into the views of the Government. The 
Spanish frontier is invaded by the enemy. 

*' At such a crisis as this, how is it possible to think of foreign 
thrones ? How can we ask France, barely able to defend herself, 
for sacrifices in any other cause than that of her own preservation, 
since at most we can only hope she will make those that are in- 
dispensable to save her own territory ? Spain must therefore be 
given up ; you must return to the rank of a French Prince, or if 
you feel you cannot thus descend, you must withdraw entirely 
from public affairs and resort to absolute retirement. I shall 
restore Spain to Ferdinand ; I shall give it to the Spaniards on 
the sole condition of respecting the French frontier, and putting 
themselves between the English and us. I hope, after making so 
great a concession, to be able to withdraw my army from the 
Pyrenees without danger, so as to send it to Italy against the Aus- 
trians. All means are good to obtain such a result. '* 

Such was the picture of the state of affairs, traced by the hand 
of him best able to judge of it, and whose interest it was to make 
the least of the evil. I own that I had been far from thinking the 
situation so serious, or that the Emperor could be reduced to so 
desperate a resource, for, to my mind, it was perfect self-deception 
to imagine that by replacing Ferdinand on the throne, he could 
make peace with Spain, and paralyse the movements of the Eng- 
lish, as if by the stroke of a magic wand. It was an inefficacious 
remedy ; but as the Emperor believed it to be infallible, all the 
King' s remonstrances were vain. Moreover, he had made up his 
mind beforehand, as was unfortunately his custom. The King 
had therefore no alternative but to abdicate his fatal title, or to 
bury himself in some obscure retreat far from Paris, for the Em- 
peror would not have suffered him to remain at Morfontaine. 
The King did not at that time tell me which course he would take. 
I could perceive that his mind was not as yet made up. 

This state of hesitation lasted a fortnight, and during that period 

of Joseph ; the first as Minister of the King's Household and the second 
as Minister for Foreign Affairs. 



648 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Queen made several visits to the Emperor, took her children 
to see him, and in the course of conversation assured him of the 
good dispositions of her husband, and handed to him a letter 
which the King had entrusted to her. But as this letter was not 
sufficiently clearly expressed, the Queen's efforts neither effected a 
complete reconciliation on the one side, nor on the other obtained 
a full assent to the will of the Emperor. 

Meanwhile events became more serious every day. On the 21st 
of December an Austrian Corps had crossed the Rhine near Hu- 
ningen ; the neutrality of Switzerland had not been respected. 
France, ancient France,' was invaded ! The Corps Legislatif had 
been opened on the 1 9th of the same month, and the authorities 
were alarmed by the spirit displayed in that Assembly hitherto both 
docile and silent. The Emperor's speech had produced an unfa- 
vourable impression. Not a word of peace, but men and money, 
money and men, were the only conclusions to be drawn from a 
series of vague and deceptive phrases. Internal enemies were lift- 
ing their heads and attacking on every side the great colossus at 
whose feet they had so long lain prostrate. The Emperor made 
vain efforts to impress public opinion favourably with regard to his 
projects. He despatched his Senators, Councillors of State, and 
auditors, to the various departments. Their business was to rouse 
the people, and to levy recruits and arms. An army of reserve 
was formed at the same time, and stores were established for arms 
and clothing. The National Guard was re-organised ; the na- 
tional airs were revived,* in fact, every effort was made to revert 
to the revolutionary measures and the expedients of the first years 
of the war of the Revolution. But where was that force of popu- 
lar feeling which in those great days was so active and so energetic 
in its development .? Where the resources which it brought forth 
as if by magic .? Where the terror that caused men to take refuge 
in the army as the safest and most honourable career .? Where was 
the exuberant population, the youthful enthusiasm that ardently 
sought glory and promotion amid a thousand dangers ? None of 
these great motive powers was in existence at the end of 18 13. 
The magical ideas of liberty and equality which had stirred the 
masses of the nation were dead. Attachment to the throne, and 
to the sovereign, which had formerly supplied a motive power, 
had not yet sprung up in favour of a recent dynasty. The Govern- 
ment alone lifted up its voice, and no one replied. Indifference 
was in the hearts of the people ; the conscription had exhausted 
their bodies ; what could be hoped for from elements such a 

* The street organs played the Marseillaise, the words of which had 
been parodied in honour of Napoleon. ^ 



- KING JOSEPH'S LETTER. 649 

these ? Those who made use of them were aware of their power- 
lessness, and the officials sent into the departments could not in- 
spire a confidence in which they themselves were wanting. The 
army alone was faithful ; it remained true to its chief, and our re- 
verses had not diminished its attachment, but the Generals were be- 
ginning to put forward their claims and to show signs of discon- 
tent. Moreover, our troops daily decreased in number, in face of 
a daily increasing enemy, and there was no replacing our losses. 

Amid all the activity which the Emperor was trying to arouse 
about himself and in the provinces, he could not endure that his 
brother should remain idle in his retirement at Morfontaine, and 
that, instead of putting himself at the head of the movement, as 
next in rank, he should hold aloof, and far from helping should 
appear to disapprove. Madame Mere arrived at Morfontaine on 
the 27th of December with the Queen, who had gone to Paris on 
the preceding day. These ladies were instructed to inform the 
King that the Emperor desired him to remove at once to Paris, 
and take up his residence at the Luxembourg, without conditions, 
and as a French Prince ; and that Napoleon required he should 
also write a letter, announcing his resolution on the subject, and 
should assume the attitude, not of King of Spain, but of the Em- 
peror's first subject. The letter was to be so expressed as to be 
suitable for insertion in the Moniteur. 

Yielding to the entreaties of his mother and his wife, the King 
wrote such a letter on the 29th of December. He expressed his 
desire of doing in all things that which might be helpful to the 
Emperor, and promised that he would abdicate if necessary, in 
the interests of peace, but he at the same time requested that a 
French plenipotentiary might treat with one of his ministers, in 
order to legislate in the interests of those Spaniards who had em- 
braced his cause. Madame Mere undertook to convey his letter 
to the Emperor, and at the same time to excuse the King for not 
coming at once to Paris, under pretext that he was ill, and unable 
for the journey. 

The letter received no answer,* although from information I 
subsequently obtained, it would seem to have been approved of 
by the Emperor, and even to have been forwarded to the Mojiiteur 

* In the M/moires et Correspondance du roi Joseph, this letter of the 29th 
of December, 1813. is given verbatim (Vol. X. p. 2), and is followed by 
the Emperor's reply, undated. Count Miot was evidently unaware of the 
existence of that reply, and mistaken in asserting that Joseph's letter of 
the 29th of December did not receive any. However, Napoleon's an- 
swer, as reported in the Moniteur, only reproduces in a rougher form the 
Emperor's words to the King, in the interview of the preceding 28th of 
November. {Note by- the French Publishers.) 



650 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

for insertion on the ist of January. But it was withdrawn during 
the night. I have never known for what reason. 

The King was still in a state of uncertainty, when, on the even- 
ing of the 3 1 St of December, he heard that the Legislative Assembly 
had been adjourned and then violently dissolved. This news, ac- 
companied by numerous alarming particulars,' made him fear that 
the Government was in imminent peril, and induced him to write 
again, very briefly, to the Emperor. In this letter he said, that 
having learned from the Moniteur what had taken place in Paris, 
he offered to join his Imperial Majesty immediately and to remove 
to the Luxembourg that same day. His letter was despatched by 
a courier, and handed to the Emperor, who sent word that he 
would answer it. But either because he did not think the danger 
of such a kind as to call for the King' s services, or because he 
would not relinquish the conditions he had imposed on his brother, 
the promised answer was not forthcoming, and having waited for 
it in vain on the ist and 2d of January, the King sent me to 
Paris, to obtain precise information as to what was going on. He 
gave me copies of his correspondence with the Emperor, and au- 
thorised me to call on the Duke of Vicenza, the then Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, on Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, and, in fact, 
on every one from whom I could obtain any information respect- 
ing affairs in general, and those that concerned him personally. 

I proceeded to Paris on the 3d of January, 18 14, and during a 
stay of two days, I saw several persons, and learned from Reg- 
nault de St. Jean d'Ahgely and my friend Gallois, details of the 
origin of the disturbance in the Corps Legislatif which had led to 
its dissolution. I will give these details at this place, for they 
throw a new light on the situation of affairs, and will enable the 
reader to appreciate what I shall afterwards have to say concerning 
facts of personal interest to the King. 

Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely had been appointed to take up 
to the Corps Legislatif the decree for the formation of an Extraor- 
dinary Commission, intended to receive communication of the 
official documents appertaining to the negotiations for peace. At 
the same time he was commanded to prepare the speech which 
was to accompany the proposal of the decree. It was desired that 
the speech should be pacific, and of a nature to obtain the approv- 
al of the Corps Legislatif for the Government and to produce a 
favourable impression on the popular mind, which was at that time 
ardently desirous of anything that might promise peace. The 
speech was accordingly drawn up in that sense ; it declared on 
the part of the Government an explicit intention to treat for peace, 
even on conditions that might entail great sacrifices. But though 
it had been written to some extent from the Emperor's dictation, 



THE DISSOLUTION. 65 1 

Regnault thought it ought to be submitted to him before being 
dehvered. He attempted however in vain to obtain an audience ; 
the Emperor, tired by a council which had lasted until late into 
the night, was sleeping, and no one would venture to wake him. 
Time pressed, and the speech was delivered as it had been writ- 
ten. * It produced a great sensation ; it contained all that was 
desired. Each deputy hastened to proclaim the hopes with which 
it had inspired him, and a marked impression was made on the 
public. But all this aroused the attention of the Emperor. He 
asked for the speech, and on reading it he considered that the ora- 
tor had gone too far. Many phrases displeased him, he asserted 
that they presented him before inimical foreign powers in a humili- 
ating attitude, and would deprive him of all respect at home. In 
short, he required several alterations to be made, before he would 
allow the speech to be printed. Regnault made a few, but they 
did not satisfy him. The speech was amended by another hand ; 
all the latter part was suppressed, and it was made to conclude 
with a sentence which was destructive to the hopes inspired by the 
original text on the previous day. f 

The Corps Legislatif, finding itself tricked in this fashion, open- 
ly expressed its indignation. A stormy debate took place at the 
ensuing sitting, severe reproaches were addressed to the President, J 
who had ventured to meddle with the copy of the speech that Reg- 
nault had laid on the table, and by handing it over to the Em- 
peror, prevented any comparison between the discourse as deliv- 
ered and as printed. 

The members of the Corps Legislatif were therefore very unfa- 
vourably disposed, when they proceeded to the nomination of the 
Commission charged to receive the documents relating to the ne- 
gotiations, and they selected those persons who were believed to 
be the most independent of Government influence. § 

Communications between the members of this Commission, the 
Government delegates, || and a deputation from the Senate, were 
held at the Arch-chancellor' s, and after a long discussion, a day 
was appointed for the hearing of the report to be presented to the 
Legislative Assembly by the Commission. The task of drawing 
it up had been conferred on M. Laine, a barrister from Bordeaux, 
who had made himself conspicuous among the members of the 

* In the sitting of the 21st of December, 1813. 

f See this sentence in the Moniteur of the 22d of December, 1813, 
which contains a dry abstract of Regnault's speech. 

X The Duke of Massa-Carrara (Regnier, member of the Council of 
Elders, afterwards, under the Emperor, Councillor of State), 

§ MM. Lain6, Reynouard, Gallois, Flangergues and Maine de Biratl, 

I MM. Regnault de St. Jean d'Angeiy and d'Hauterive, 



652 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Commission for his freedom of opinion, and the boldness of his 
language. 

The report, which was read on the appointed day at the Arch- 
chancellor's, was divided into three parts. The first was entirely 
devoted to an exposition of the general state, of political affairs, 
and was worded so as to present the action of the Allied Powers 
towards France in the most favourable light, and consequently to 
throw all the blame on the head of the French Government, and 
to attribute all our misfortunes to him alone. The second part 
set forth the absolute necessity of peace, and formally expressed a 
desire to secure it at any price. The third was a series of com- 
plaints presented to the Emperor, in which the misconduct of the 
employes of the administration, the annoyances of all kinds that 
they inflicted on citizens, and the extortion of the generals, were 
painted in the darkest colours. This statement of grievances pro- 
ceeded on the assumption that these abuses of authority and their 
attendant evils were unknown to the Emperor, and that it was the 
duty of the Corps Legislatif to acquaint him with them. 

Several expressions in the first part greatly offended the delegates 
from the Government and the Senate, and the whole of the third 
was still more displeasing to them. They begged the Commission 
to alter those expressions which must be offensive to the Emperor, 
and to suppress the third part entirely. They pointed out that it 
was inopportune to make complaints such as these ; that the prin- 
cipal object at the present moment was to show that perfect una- 
nimity prevailed between the Corps Legislatif and the Government, 
and that both were animated by one will ; that nothing was more 
unlikely to produce this desirable result than a statement of griev- 
ances, which, supported by their authority, would excite the popu- 
lation of the interior, and would greatly interfere with the action 
of the Government in levying the conscription and collecting 
taxes. These arguments seemed to make an impression on some 
of the members of the Commission. They promised to make cer- 
tain alterations ; they even held out hopes that the third part 
should be suppressed. But it would appear that those hopes were 
only vague and that the Commission held itself in no way bound. 
The members proceeded on the 29th of December to the Corps 
Legislatif, then sitting.* M. Laine ascended the tribune, and 
read the report just as it had been drawn up at first. 

M. Laine was enthusiastically received and loudly applauded. 
Some members, however, pointed out that the discourse contained 
many passages which might be read without danger in a private 
assembly, while their publication would be highly undesirable ; 

* The sitting was a private one. 



A VIOLENT DECISION. 653 



but these members were little heeded, and the next day, at the re- 
quest of the President and contrary to the usual custom, the votes 
for and against publication were taken, and publication was carried 
by a large majority* and decreed. The result of the sitting of 
the 29th of December, and the above particulars, were instantly 
made known to the Emperor. The Government was alarmed. 
An Extraordinary Council was held late at night on Wednesday, 
the 29th. The Ministers and Grand Dignitaries were summoned 
to it. The question of suspending the Corps Legislatif was de- 
bated ; but after the disadvantages of such a measure had been 
weighed, it was rejected, and it was resolved merely to open nego- 
tiations with M. Laine and the most influential members of the 
Commission, in order to procure a modification of the report, and 
that it should be expressed in terms not injurious to the Govern- 
ment. Thursday, the 30th, was passed in these negotiations ; 
certain alterations were agreed to, and it was thought the printing 
might be proceeded with. Things were in this state on the even- 
ing of the 30th, when the Director of the Imperial Printing Estab- 
lishment, on correcting the proof-sheets, saw that, notwithstanding 
the alterations made during the day, certain passages which struck 
him very forcibly had escaped the censorship. He took one of the 
proof-sheets to the Minister of Police, who was also struck by the 
same passages, and hastened to show the sheets to the Emperor, 
who read them with great agitation, f He imagined that he had 
been tricked, and decided instantly on the most violent measures. 
The report was withdrawn from publication during the night of 
30th-3ist of December ; the type was broken up, the proof-sheets 
were burned, and, in the morning, without calling a Council and 
having conferred only with the few present at his lever, the Em- 
peror ordered the Duke of Bassano to draw up and send off a de- 
cree by which, on vaguely stated grounds, he adjourned the Corps 
Legislatif. J Meanwhile, as the publication of this decree in the 
Moniteur of the 31st of December, had not been possible, and that 
it was important to prevent another sitting on that day, a detach- 
ment of the Dragoon Guards took possession of the approaches and 
doors of the Palace of the Corps Legislatif early in the morning, 
and the Members, on presenting themselves, were obliged to turn 

* 223 votes against 31. The scrutiny of the votes took place on the 
30th of December at a public sitting. 

f I had an opportunity, subsequently, of seeing the copy that had been 
sent to the Printing-house. The third part of the report, containing the 
grievances, had been suppressed ; but the following words had been 
allowed to remain : " 1' adversity veridique," — and speaking of Louis XIV. 
that King still called GREAT by posterity. It seems that this expression 
and the phrase just quoted had particularly offended the Emperor. 

% See this decree in the Moniteur of the ist of January, 1814. 



654 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



back. Access was even refused them to their private rooms, and 
to the library, where they might have assembled. 

The -news spread rapidly through Paris and produced a great 
sensation. Very free remarks were made about the Emperor, and 
the funds fell considerably. There was however no disturbance, 
and unbroken tranquillity prevailed. 

On the following day, the first of the year 1814, a large number 
of the Members of the Corps Legislatif came to the Tuileries, and 
among them were three members of the Committee, Gallois, Flan- 
gergues and Maine de Biran. The Emperor spoke long and with 
great verbosity. " He knew," he said, " that the great majority of 
the Corps Legislatif was sound, but it contained within it a Bour- 
bonist party, at the head of which was M. Laine, who kept up a 
correspondence with England through M. Deseze." The Em- 
peror added that he was having him watched. 

He spoke for nearly three quarters of an hour. No one made 
any reply. The crowd dispersed and in the evening all was quiet. 

On the following day, M. Laine, having been informed of the 
Emperor's imputations upon him, presented himself to the Min- 
ister of Police, offered to hand over his papers, and to constitute 
himself a prisoner, so as to exculpate himself by every possible 
means from the reproach that had been cast upon him. The 
Minister told him not to trouble himself, that he ought to know 
the disposition of the Emperor, w^ho had forgotten all about it, a 
moment after, and never bore malice. 

The matter had ended there, and when I reached Paris, the im- 
pression produced had already faded ; but the effect had been 
greater in the departments, where popular feeling was even more 
excited than in the capital. The inhabitants of the provinces were 
nearer to the enemy ; they looked at things more seriously ; taxa- 
tion, the evils of war and the conscription, pressed heavily upon 
them. Moreover, they had not the various sources of amusement 
which even at that time abounded in that great capital, Paris, 
where every one is occupied with himself, and neither perceives 
nor pities the misfortunes of his neighbour. 

After I had obtained the foregoing information about an event 
which had caused us great alarm at Morfontaine, I turned my at- 
tention to the King's personal position, and to the means of re- 
leasing him as quickly as possible from a state of uncertainty and 
irresolution that could not be prolonged without danger, and 
without exposing him to ridicule for his inaction at so critical a 
time. ^ Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, to whom I had confided 
the object of my mission, was eager in his desire to serve the 
King. We called together on the Duke of Vicenza, who told us 
that the Emperor had authorised him to confer with the Duke of 



- KING LOUIS OF HOLLAND. 655 

Santa Fe, one of the Spanish Ministers, and to treat with him in 
the interests of^uch of his countrymen as had embraced the King's 
cause. * * But, ' ' added he, ' ' how can this negotiation be begun ? 
What is its object ? How is it possible to explain the true situ- 
ation of affairs to M. de Santa Fe and our powerlessness to exert 
any influence over the King whom we are about to restore to Spain ? 
And supposing that, by our proposed treaty with him, we induce 
\ him to concede something in favour of the Spanish-French party, 
what guarantee shall we have for the execution of a clause to which 
he v/ili only consent with reluctance, and in the hope of evading 
it? Nor must King Joseph infer from the Emperor's concession 
on that point * that he recognizes his claims as King of Spain. 
The Emperor has not changed and will not change his mind on 
this matter. He wishes, no doubt, to have his brother with him ; 
but if he presented himself otherwise than as a French Prince and 
the first subject of the Empire, he would greatly complicate the 
position of the Government both abroad and at home. It would 
be thought that the Emperor still intended to conquer Spain ; and 
the presence of the King, as such, would be an argument against 
the peaceful views of his Imperial Majesty. If, on the contrary, 
his brother comes to Paris in the capacity of a Grand Elector and 
a French Prince, he thereby proclaims his readiness to make every 
sacrifice to facilitate peace ; he stands before the nation and before 
his brother, as having renounced on behalf both of France and 
himself the crown which he wears. ' ' 

After this interview, in which the Minister seemed to me to 
be perfectly reasonable, and in which neither Regnault nor I offered 
any objections, because, in truth, there were none to make, I saw 
King Louis, who had just arrived in Paris, f and as I wished to 
have his opinion on the line of conduct I ought to suggest to his 
brother Joseph on my return to Morfontaine, I told him all the 
Duke of Vicenza had said to us. " My opinion," said King 
Louis, " is that my brother should come here, and remain with 
the Emperor without waiting for any further explanation. I will 
tell you what happened to myself when the invasion of Switzerland 
obliged me to leave my retreat there. I came hither ; I wrote to 
the Emperor ; I received no answer from him, but, on the third 
of this month, the Duke of Vicenza paid me a visit. He brought 
me word from the Emperor that if I came as a French Prince I 
was welcome, but that I could not be received as King of Holland. 

* The reader has already seen that this request was contained in the 
King's letter to his brother, of the 2gth of December, and which Madame 
Mere had conveyed to the Emperor. 

\ He was staying at his mother's house where I saw him. Madame 
Mere was present at the interview which I describe. 



656 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

I replied to the Minister as follows, ' So long as Holland is in the 
occupation of the enemy I make no claim to the title of King, and 
I am indifferent to any other. I am here solely as a Frenchman, 
to share in the present danger and to be useful, so far as I can. 
If Holland were to fall once more into the power of the Emperor, 
and that he did not restore it to me, my conscience as a King 
would forbid my remaining in France. If, on the contrary, when 
Peace is made, Holland is ceded to some other sovereign, and that 
a renunciation on my part becomes necessary for the sanctioning 
of that portion of the treaty, I shall not withhold it. You may 
repeat to my brother all I have said.' " 

Having obtained as much information as possible, I returned to 
Morfontaine in the night, on the 4th of January, and reported to 
the King all I had learned, both of the state of affairs in general, 
and of those that concerned him personally. I added, ' ' It seems 
to me that you must not expect further propositions from the Em- 
peror, and I can see nothing but disadvantage in your deferring 
your return to Paris. By writing as you have written, you have 
gone too far for your retirement at Morfontaine to be accepted as a 
proof of modesty and philosophical indifference. To remain here, 
is in fact, in the opinion of all, your least honourable course, be- 
cause it seems like a wish to escape from the difficulties, nay, the 
dangers of the moment. On the other hand, by longer delay, you 
will lose all the merit of the step, if after all you take it. More- 
over, supposing that you retain some hope of obtaining a new 
crown in compensation for one you now sacrifice, when Peace is 
made, it is only in Paris that you could carry out such an arrange- 
ment, and make it popular by your generosity and disinterested- 
ness at the moment of danger. In short, you ought unhesitatingly 
to follow the example of your brother. King Louis, whose position 
is very similar to your own. ' ' 

These arguments, and still more the force of circumstances 
which no longer left him any freedom of choice, overcame the 
King's indecision ; he resolved on going to Paris, and on the 6th 
of January he established himself at the Luxembourg, where he 
gave me an apartment. 

On reaching Paris, Joseph again wrote to the Emperor, but his 
brother's letter still failed to satisfy him. He sent word that there 
was too much bombast in it, and that he wished it to be more 
simple. Shortly afterwards, the Prince of Neuchatel made his ap- 
pearance at the Luxembourg, as the bearer of the Emperor's final 
conditions. His interview with the King lasted over two hours ; 
but either from want of will or from want of tact, the envoy irri- 
tated instead of soothing the King, and the state of affairs was left 
more unpromising than ever. The King told me he had decided 



RECONCILIATION. 657 



on giving up everything, and going into complete retirement. I 
used my utmost endeavours to dissuade him from carrying out this 
resolution, which was prompted by the generosity of his dispo- 
sition, that made him think himself bound to the Spaniards who 
had embraced his cause, and persuaded him that in relinquishing 
the title of King he would be abandoning their interests and act- 
ing like a coward. While I appreciated his feelings, I did all I 
could to convince him that by entering into his views, he could 
serve those interests better than by resisting the Emperor, and I 
suggested that he should consult the Spanish Ministers themselves, 
on this point. He agreed to this, and MM. de Santa Fe, Urquijo 
and d'AImenara having been summoned, a conference took place 
in presence of the Queen, and was prolonged late into the night. 
I reproduced the various arguments that I have already rehearsed 
in my accounts of private conversations with the King. The Span- 
ish Ministers admitted their cogency, the King was at last con- 
vinced, and the next morning he wrote the following letter to the 
Emperor : 

'•Sire, 

' ' The invasion of France imposes on every Frenchman the duty 
of flying to her defence ; but to those whom she has raised to the 
highest rank, belongs especially the glorious prerogative of being 
the first to defend the throne and the country. As premier, French 
Prince and your first subject, permit me. Sire, to beg you to 
accept the offer of my sword and of my counsels. In whatever 
way you may deign to use them, I shall esteem myself happy if I 
may contribute to restore that tranquillity and happiness to France, 
the country to which I owe everything, that is needed by the whole 
of Europe. Under existing circumstances I can see the perils of 
my country only ; all true Frenchmen must sacrifice every other 
feeling. You will yet save France, Sire, if all Frenchmen rally 
round your throne with the same devotion as that with which I 
offer you my services. 

*' I am, etc. 

" Paris, January 7, 1814." 

This letter having given satisfaction, the King was received by 
his brother on the 9th of January and had a conference of more 
than three hours' length with him. On returning to the Luxem- 
bourg he received a letter from the Emperor informing him that 
he had given orders at the Palace that the King should be an- 
nounced as King Joseph and his wife as Queen Julia, and that 
they would receive the honours due to their rank. The Emperor 
also authorized the King to wear the uniform of the Grenadier 



658 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Guards as worn by himself, and ended his letter by suggesting 
that, under present circumstances. King Joseph should abstain 
from wearing any foreign decoration and appear in public with the 
order of France only. On the following Sunday, the i6th of 
January, the Senate, the Courts of Judicature, and all the highest 
state officials, came in state to the Luxembourg to offer their hom- 
age to the King, who was attended by the officers of his household. 
Count de Jaucourt discharged the duties of First Chamberlain, and 
resumed his hitherto interrupted service. I returned to the Coun- 
cil of State at the bidding of the Emperor. In short, the interior 
of the Luxembourg resumed its appearance of eight years before, 
when Joseph dwelt there as a French Prince and a Grand Elector. 

Thus ended a long series of negotiations, which, to my mind, 
were invested on both sides with too great importance. The ter- 
rible crisis that had come upon us should have absorbed every 
thought, and put an end to all considerations of vanity and am- 
bition. To avoid recurring to a melancholy subject, I will say a 
few words on the conclusion of matters in Spain. 

A few days after his secret interview with his brother of the 28th 
of November, 18 13, the Emperor despatched Count de Laforet to 
Valenyay. He had appointed him his plenipotentiary, and sent him 
to treat with the Duke of San Carlos, appointed in like manner 
by Ferdinand VIL for the restoration of peace between Spain and 
France. The negotiation was carried on rapidly, and the treaty 
was signed on the nth of December. The crown was restored to 
Ferdinand without conditions, and with the whole territory of 
Spain, such as it existed at the peace of Utrecht. By one article, 
the rank, honours, and property of those Spaniards who had 
espoused the cause of King Joseph, were confirmed to them, and 
those who wished to leave the country were allowed a space of ten 
years in which to sell their estates. Another article reserved to 
Frenchmen and Italians the enjoyment of property in Spain which 
had belonged to them before the war, but there was no positive 
stipulation in favour of those who, during the domination of 
France, had purchased the national property put up for sale by 
King Joseph. 

After the ratification of the treaty, Ferdinand left Valen9ay, and 
set out for Spain. How the stipulations were carried out in the 
sequel, and how Spain fared under the King we sent back to her, 
are matters of history. The war waged by the Emperor on that 
unhappy country and the peace he bestowed on her, were equally 
fatal. How much blood had been lavished, how much treasure 
had been wasted, to obtain this shameful result ! On the other 
hand, as might easily be foreseen, the Emperor reaped none of the 
advantages he had hoped to secure by the transaction. Neither 



A LAST RESOURCE. 659 

the English nor the Cortes considered themselves bound by the 
treaty of Valenj^ay ; hostilities continued in the Pyrenees, and the 
war was carried on in that part of France after it had been con- 
cluded in every other. 

Our home affairs were in a frightful state in January, 18 14. 
The enemy had reached to the very heart of France ; everywhere 
our enfeebled armies retreated before him. The Government at- 
tempted in vain to arm the people and organise a peasant warfare. 
A few districts of the Lower Rhine and the Vosges answered to the 
appeal, but the other departments, whether occupied by the enemy 
or merely threatened, did not follow their patriotic example. The 
Senators and Councillors of State who had been despatched to the 
frontier fortresses, fled from them and returned in haste to Paris. 
The English had marched into Bordeaux, where the mayor, M, 
Lynch, em_boldened by their presence, had declared for the Bour- 
bons. The King of Naples had deserted the French flag, thus 
offering the last insult to the Emperor. The negotiations at 
Chatillon-sur-Seine were assuming a shape which forbade any hope 
of a favourable issue, the Duke of Vicenza had not been admitted 
to them without difficulty. Far from dictating in the name of the 
Conqueror as in former days, he daily received insulting notes, 
and propositions too humiliating to be consented to, which, if 
accepted, would probably have been retracted afterwards. There 
was no wish to treat with the Emperor, but only a desire to over- 
throw him, and his utter ruin was clearly the object aimed at by 
the negotiators and their masters. 

In this extremity a last effort of French arms became our only 
resource, and the soldiers' confidence in the genius and good for- 
tune of the Emperor was such, that the army was persuaded that 
the two combined might yet save the Empire. The troops were 
however alarmed at the prolonged sojourn of the Emperor in his 
capital, when his presence was so necessary to strengthen and 
guide the valour of this handful of warriors, the only hope of their 
country, and who had remained faithful to her. Moments were 
precious, and there were none to lose. The Emperor felt this, 
and only delayed his departure in order to regulate the form of 
Government during his absence. Provisions were made for this 
on the 2 1 St of January in an Extraordinary Council. The Em- 
press Marie Louise was named Regent, and was to reside in Paris 
with the King of Rome. King Joseph and Cambaceres, the 
Arch-chancellor, were appointed Councillors to the Empress. The 
first was to preside on important occasions over the Senate and the 
State Council, which he had the right of convening extraordinarily 
whenever he should deem it necessary. These preliminaries having 
been arranged, the Emperor held a grand reception for the last time 



660 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

on Sunday, the 23d of January. I was there in attendance on 
the King. All the officers of the newly organized Parisian Na- 
tional Guards were assembled in the Salle des Marechaux. The 
Emperor appeared accompanied by the Empress and the King of 
Rome. He presented them both to his officers, asking them to 
watch over the safety of what was dearest to him in the world, and 
repeated several times, * ' You will answer for them, will you not ? 
You will defend them.?" He uttered these words many times, 
with a warmth of feeling which seemed to make a deep impression 
on his hearers. There was a moment of enthusiasm and cries of 
" Vive I'Empereur ! vive ITmperatrice ! vive le roi de Rome !" 
were heard on all sides. In his ardent address the Emperor did 
not reveal any hope of peace. His whole speech, on the contrary, 
seemed to intimate a possibility that the enemy might soon arrive 
before the walls of Paris, entrusted to the defence of the National 
Guard. On returning to the drawing-rooms, he found there 
Senators, Councillors of State, Magistrates, in short, a numerous 
Court. He spoke a great deal and to very many persons, and 
without disguising the dangers pressing on us on all sides, he ap- 
pealed to our generosity to help him to withstand the storm, and 
received from those present assurances of devotion which were soon 
belied. But he was fated to be deceived until the last moment, 
and to believe protestations of attachment to be sincere, that were 
but well-turned compliments from lips long accustomed to flattery. 
As for me I was less preoccupied ; there was no occasion for 
hypocrisy towards me, and I perceived by everything that I saw 
and heard how changed was this Court, formerly so splendid and 
yet so subservient. I recollected the brilliant period following on 
the birth of the King of Rome and compared it with the present. 
Where were the ambassadors from every nation, where the princes, 
the courtier kings, who, at a period so recent and yet so different, 
filled these halls and bowed before this now tottering throne ? All 
the pomp of those days had disappeared ; of all that crowd of 
strangers there remained but a few Italian or German Councillors 
of State, summoned from the departments that had been annexed 
to France, and who, while their countries were returning to the 
possession of their ancient rulers, still represented that gigantic 
association of different nationalities already irretrievably shattered 
by war. But what struck me most of all was the language of the 
French Senators. Never had it been more obsequious. M. de 
Laplace, among others, speaking to me of the position of affairs, 
dwelt with such lively interest and such profound emotion on his 
attachment to and confidence in the Emperor, and such indigna- 
tion on the rumoured proclamation in favour of the Bourbons, 
that I might well have believed the ancient dynasty to have no 



A LAST RECEPTION. 66l 

more determined enemy and the Emperor no truer friend than he. 
Judging from his language how could I have supposed that he 
** had never ceased to cherish" — these were his words subse- 
quently — " the Bourbons in his heart" ? 

The Emperor left Paris on the 25th of January at seven in the 
morning and reached Chalons-sur-Marne the same day. I shall not 
follow him through that celebrated and fatal campaign in which, 
according to military judgment, he displayed the greatest talent, 
and which is considered the most scientific of all those which have 
shed lustre on his name. In this campaign he proved that his 
moral and physical faculties, far from being exhausted by reverses, 
had, on the contrary, acquired greater energy. He gave the lie 
direct to those rumours then prevalent, and since then accredited 
by many writers, that both mind and body had failed him in the 
Russian campaign. I leave to those who fought by his side the 
task of purging his memory from these slanderous imputations. I 
will only say that if he lost his Empire he at least preserved the 
renown of French arms. The soldiers fell indeed, but only be- 
fore superior numbers, and though they frequently encountered 
enemies worthy to compete with them for the palm of valour and 
endurance, they never allowed it to be completely wrested from 
their grasp. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Preliminaries of Peace are proposed by the Plenipotentiaries of the 
Allies — ^Napoleon flushed with the military successes obtained in Feb- 
ruary rejects them — He nevertheless communicates them to an Extraor- 
dinary Council at Paris which unanimously advises their acceptance — 
The numerical superiority of the enemy nullifies the advantages gained 
by the French — Conspiracy in favour of a Provisional Government is 
organised in Paris by Talleyrand — Consternation in Paris at the news 
of the rupture of negotiations at Chatillon — The Emperor throws him- 
self on the rear of the enemy, who nevertheless continues to march on 
Paris — Measures to be taken for the safety of the Empress and the 
King of Rome are discussed in a Council of Regency, which decides 
that they shall leave Paris — Joseph's proclamation of the 29th of March 
— The Emperor at Troyes on the 28th — The Author refuses the King's 
proposal that he shall leave Paris with the Queen — Reluctance of the 
Queen and the Empress to quit Paris— On the morning of the 30th the 
enemy attacks the French positions under the walls of Paris — Depart- 
ure of Queen Julia with her children — We hear of the arrival of the 
Emperor at Fontainebleau with a portion of his guard on the 29th— An 
order from the Grand Judge, Count Mole, directs the members of the 
Senate to rejoin the Empress-Regent, the Author leaves on the evening 
of the 30lh and reaches Chartres the 31st of March — A cold reception 
by King Joseph — The Government of the Regency is established at 
Blois — Personages composing it — Uncertainty prevails at Blois with 
regard to the events that had taken place in Pans and at Fontainebleau — 
On the 7th of April a letter from the Duke of Bassano informs the Re- 
gency of the abdication of Napoleon — The Author is sent to Paris to 
obtain passports for the members of the family assembled at Blois and 
reaches the capital — Difficulties in fulfilling his mission — He at last ob- 
tains the passports, which he sends to King Joseph at Orleans, who is 
greatly irritated at a clause in them — The Author is excluded from the 
Council of State, goes into retirement, and establishes himself and 
family on an estate near Paris. 

During the two months which elapsed between the opening of this 
campaign and the catastrophe that closed it, I remained in Paris, 
a prey to the alternate hope and fear awakened by the contradictory 
accounts which reached us from the army. I was separated from 
all I loved — my son-in-law, General Jamin, major of the mounted 
grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, was sharing the dangers of the 
campaign, at the head of that famous regiment ; my son and my 
nephew his aides-de-camp, had joined him , my wife and daughter 
were at Mayenne with the family of my son-in-law. Deprived of 
all domestic consolation, I lived at the Luxembourg, in the midst 



CONDITIONS OF PEACE. 663 

of an agitation incessantly kept up by the arrival of couriers, by 
the visits of the ministers and principal officers of State, who came 
for orders or advice to that palace, for it had become in some sort 
the headquarters of the Government. There was not an interval 
of repose, nor a day unmarked by some event, sometimes reassur- 
ing, at other times, and more often disastrous. Such was my life 
during those two months. I do not however intend to describe it 
in detail. I will confine myself to circumstances, which may throw 
some light on the events of that terrible period. 

After the bloody combat of Brienne, when the bold and skilful 
manoeuvres of the Emperor had resulted in the brilliant successes 
of Champa.ubert, Montmirail and Montereau, Napoleon regained 
his habitual confidence in his destiny. He once more beheld him- 
self as the conqueror of Europe, now leagued against him, and he 
wrote to his brother, that, when crossing the pass of Montereau, 
where he lost much precious time, he was nearer to Vienna than 
the Austrians then were to Paris. 

It was while dazzled with this success that he received the sketch 
of the treaty of the preliminaries of peace given to the Duke of 
Vicenza by the Plenipotentiaries of the allies, assembled at the Con- 
gress of Berlin. 

The principal conditions are as follows : 

France shall give up Belgium and all conquests made since 
1792. 

The Emperor shall abandon the titles of King of Italy, Protector 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Mediator of the Swiss 
Leagues, and his son that of King of Rome. 

Spain shall belong to Ferdinand VII. 

Holland shall be given to a Prince of the House of Orange with 
an increase of territory. 

Italy shall be given up to independent Princes. 

England shall retain Malta, but abandon the American colonies, 
and the French establishments in India, as being commercial es- 
tablishments. She shall retain the islands of France* and of 
Bourbon. All strongholds in the lands ceded by France, as well 
as in those still in her power on the Oder and the Elbe, shall be 
given up within a very short period. 

The Allies will likewise retain as surety, until the signing of a 
definitive peace, the strongholds of Huningen, Belfort, and Be- 
san9on. 

This draft of a treaty was accompanied by a Note of the Pleni- 
potentiaries of the Allied Powers dated the 2d of March. The 

* Mauritius. 



664 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

Emperor sent it to King Joseph with all previously received papers 
relating to the negotiation. * 

111 an accompanying letter the Emperor ordered that everything 
should be communicated to an Extraordinary Council, presided 
over by the Empress Regent, and composed of the Princes, Min- 
isters of Departments, Ministers of State, and Presidents of the sec- 
tion of the State Council. " But," wrote he, "it is only formal 
opinion I ask for — my resolution is taken — I will never accept a 
treaty which I regard as a disgraceful capitulation. I only wish to 
know what will be the sentiments of those famous Councillors on 
the reading of the propositions and the accompanying documents." 
Then he added that he had written to Prince Schwarzenberg by 
the Prince of Neuchatel, to announce to him his determination to 
concede nothing that concerned the honour of France or his own ; 
also that he had himself written a long letter to the Emperor, his 
father-in-law, pointing out the importance of the success he had 
just obtained, and while assuring him that he would soon be at 
the head of a larger army than Austria's, informing him that 200,- 
000 men would defend Paris, and that even should the capital be 
taken, France would never consent to such humiliating condi- 
tions. 

The meeting of the Council and the opinion it might pronounce 
were therefore really useless, since the negotiations were broken 
off beforehand. It nevertheless assembled on the 3d of March at 
five in the evening. It was unanimous in accepting the treaty, 
such as the Allies proposed ; and in fact, hard as the conditions 
were, they ought to have been accepted, if, which I cannot yet 
believe, they were the sincere and final proposals of the Powers. 
The treaty, rigorous as it was, maintained the established govern- 
ment of France ; it sanctioned the existence of the Emperor and 
that of the Imperial Family. England recognised the new dynasty, 
which was an advantage none of the previous transactions had 
given Napoleon. There was no question of the Bourbons, who 
appeared to be altogether abandoned. This was conceding a great 
deal to the Emperor, who was more considered in this arrange- 
ment than France herself. Time might produce discord among 
the Allied Powers ; the very division of the spoils of the Empire 
must quickly bring about dissensions, and the Emperor would be 
skilful enough to profit by their disunion, and partly to regain 
what he now lost by this treaty. Lastly, what he had most reason 
to fear was the disorganization that menaced the social body ; it 

* See in the Moniteur of the 7th of March, 18 14, the two decrees of the 
5th of the same month which prove that Napoleon had abandoned all 
idea of peace, and sought a war of extermination. 



TOO FAR, AND TOO LATE. 665 

Still existed ; but if peace was deferred, it would perhaps be dis- 
solved, and France might find herself at the discretion of a con- 
queror unchecked by any treaty. 

The decisions of the Council were sent to the Emperor by the 
King, who added to them his own entreaties to induce his brother 
to change his course of action. He did not hide from him how 
little the nation desired war, and that he risked losing every thing 
by refusing peace, at any price even, since peace alone could win 
back for him popular favour, and save him from his fate. * 

But, had the Emperor been sufficiently convinced of the truth 
of these obser/ations, to be willing to abandon the system he was 
pursuing, he had now gone too far to retrace his steps. Besides, 
the moment had passed, and the chances of war, in spite of all the 
glory we had acquired by our last engagements, had again turned 
against us. Our very victories took from us the means of victory. 
No sooner did the Emperor shut the road to the capital to one 
.body of the enemy's army, than another appeared in an opposite 
direction. The Prince Royal of Sweden penetrated into Belgium 
at the head of 45,000 men, and there was no longer any obsta- 
cle to impede his march on Paris. On the other hand, notwith- 
standing all the Emperor had written to his father-in-law as to the 
large forces assembled for the defence of the capital, the lie was 
promptly given to this exaggeration of our resources by informa- 
tion which the enemy received from Paris. Reducing those re- 
sources to their real number, there were not troops enough to 
stop Blucher' s army, which, while the Emperor was manoeuvring 
in order to fall on the rear of Schwarzenberg' s force, could easily 
advance on the capital from Meaux. This intelligence reached 
the enemy from sources too well informed not to be completely 
trustworthy. 

There existed in Paris at this time several associated bodies, 
whose members, foreseeing the coming fall of the Emperor, and 
anxious to hasten it, did not hesitate to deliver up their country to 
the enemy for the sake of gratifying their personal enmity. M. 
de Talleyrand headed the most active of these societies. He had 
been ill-used by the Emperor, and had borne ill-treatment without 
showing on his imperturbable countenance the least sign of re- 
sentment, either in Napoleon's presence or in that of King Jo- 
seph, whom he sometimes visited at the Luxembourg ; and now 
the opportunity of revenging himself was too favourable to be let 



* In a letter of the ist of March to the Emperor, the King had drawn a 
picture of the situation of France as true as it was vigorous, and of her 
urgent need for peace. The reader will find the letter in the Appendix to 
this chapter. 



6(£ MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

slip, and the hope of regaining power by bringing back the Bour- 
bons — a hope that was speedily crushed — animated him with all 
the -sentiments of enmity and ambition of which a cold heart can 
be capable. M. de Jaucourt, who was very intimate with M. de 
Talleyrand, and very scrupulous in his attendance on King Jo- 
seph, was his emissary. Being admitted to intimacy at the "Lux- 
embourg in his capacity of First Chamberlain, he picked up all 
the news that arrived, and carried it to M. de Talleyrand, who 
thus knowing the real state of affairs was enabled to regulate his 
own conduct accordingly. It was in this society to which the 
Abbe Montesquiou, Baron Louis, and some others belonged, 
that a plan for the establishment of a provisional government, or 
of a regency, which was to be substituted for that of the Empress if 
she left Paris, was formed ; and even the project of a new Consti- 
tution. I learned the existence of this species of committee by a 
purely personal occurrence. The Minister of Police, in a conversa- 
tion with King Joseph on the 15th of March, told him that, among 
other papers received from the Emperor, there was one in which I 
was named as occupying myself with the projects of a provisional 
government to be substituted for that established by the Emperor 
before his departure for the army. Nothing could be more un- 
founded, as I easily proved to the Duke of Bovigo, whom I went 
to see the same day. But the origin of this ridiculous denunciation 
was as follows. My brother. Colonel Miot, equerry to King Joseph, 
was at the Luxembourg, and it often happened that M. de Jaucourt, 
hearing of the arrival of a courier, or the rumour of some event, 
would write to him during the day to know the truth. My brother 
answered these notes, which were apparently dictated by the great- 
est interest in the Emperor's cause, and his replies were all taken 
to M. de Talleyrand. Thus my name came to be mentioned in 
this particular committee, in support of the statements made there 
by M. de Jaucourt. From the identity of name, the spy, who 
kept the police informed of what passed in the committee, had 
concluded that I was the person in question, and had associated 
me in his reports with this culpably-obtained information. Thus 
I heard of it, and I was not surprised ; the catastrophe which was 
to close the drama was drawing near ; and the event proved that 
M. de Talleyrand was prepared for it, and that it could not take 
him unawares. 

By what I have just related, it is easy to judge that the Emperor 
could count on little aid from the capital, and still less on public 
opinion. Partial confidences, artful insinuations, hopes and even 
promises of gain, made with authority, daily detached influential 
members of the Senate and Council of State from the Emperor's 
cause, and examples of devotion and fidelity became rarer every 



THE EMPRESS. 66^ 

iay.* We may judge from this whether the enemy was not kept 
veil informed, and whether he could any longer hesitate to march 
)n Paris ! The only support remaining to Napoleon's cause was 
•he presence of the Empress in Paris, So long as she stayed 
;here, his party might still defend itself, and it was to be pre- 
mmed that her father, finding her on the throne where he had 
onsented to place her, would not thrust her off_ it, nor would 
be with his own hands drive her from the palace she inhabited. 
IBut by a singular fatality the Emperor had especially enjoined, 
jlhat if the enemy entered Paris, the Empress and his son were to 
eave it. f Thus then the last anchor of safety was broken. In 
the meanwhile events progressed rapidly to a climax. The news 
of the ruDture of the conofress of Chatillon reached Paris on the 
24th of March, and spread consternation among all those who still 
hoped to preserve peace. The Duke of Vicenza, in reply to the 
(project of preliminaries of peace, of which I have already spoken, 
presented a counter project, which appeared to be so opposed to 
the views and pretensions of the Allied Powers, that their minis- 
ters refused even to discuss it. Public funds in Paris fell below 
48. Sadness and discouragement spread through all ranks ; but 

* In the midst of this nearly universal defection, it is consoling to find 
an honourable exception in the case of Carnot. Although long set aside 
from public affairs, and deprived of the honour due to his rank and talents, 
when the moment of danger came he forgot all this injustice, and nobly 
offered this services to him of whom he had so much reason to complain. 
I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of recalling in this place the letter 
he wrote to the Emperor on the 24th of January, 1814 : 

Sire, 

" While success attended your arms, I refrained from offering to your 
Majesty services which I could not think would be agreeable to you. 

' But now, Sire, that misfortune tries your constancy, I no longer 
hesitate to offer you the feeble resources that remain to me. The 
strength of an old man of sixty is doubtless little, but I thought that the 
example of an old soldier, whose patriotic sentiments are well known, 
might brmg back many wavering partisans to your eagles, who might 
otherwise be persuaded to forsake them. 

" Sire, there is yet time to bring about a glorious peace, and to regain 
the love of a great nation. " 

The defence of Antwerp was confided to General Carnot. How he 
acquitted himself is well known ; he neither capitulated, nor gave up the 
town until after the Emperor's abdication. In vain the Prince Royal of 
Sweden tried to open negotiations with him, ** in the name," as he wrote 
in his letter, " of their ancient friendship." "* I was the friend," replied 
Carnot, " of the French General Bernadotte, but I am the enemy of the 
foreign Prince who bears arms against my country." 

f I never saw the letter which contained this order, but there appears 
to be no doubt that it existed. It will be seen what influence it exercised 
over the decisions of the Council of Regency. 



668 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

at the same time intrigues and plots multiplied. All ambitious 
persons were in agitation, seeking to make arrangements with the 
new government After the news of the rupture of negotiations, 
Paris remained for many days in complete ignorance of what was 
taking place at the Emperor's headquarters ; it was afterwards 
known that, after a bloody and disastrous ejigagement at Laon on 
the 9th of March, and a success gained on the 13th over the Rus- 
sian general Saint- Priest, the Emperor had fallen on the rear of 
the enemy and was in movement at a great distance from Paris. * 
But this bold stroke, which had intercepted the enemy's line of 
communication with the Rhine, and had caused both baggage and 
prisoners to fall into the hands of the French, did not produce 
the chief result which was expected by the Emperor, the diversion 
of the attention of the enemy, or at least the retarding of his march 
on Paris. The enemy's army, combined with that of Blucher, 
with the Russian Imperial Guard, the Royal Prussian Guard, and 
the greater part of the army of Prince Schwarzenberg, continued 
its march across the basin of the Marne, defeated at la Fere 
Champenoise, the Marshal Dukes of Treviso and Ragusa, who 
were too inferior in numbers to resist, and then, having crossed 
the Marne at Trilleport, advanced by Meaux and Claye on Paris. 
In consequence of this movement General Compans had evacu- 
ated Meaux, and placed himself between Romainville and La Vil- 
lette, under the walls of the city. After this defeat, the two Mar- 
shals had retired on Provins, which they quitted by forced marches 
in order to defend the capital. 

Such was the state of affairs on the morning of Monday, the 
28th of March, and as it was doubtful whether the enemy could 
be prevented from entering Paris, the day was passed in concerting 
measures for the safety of the Empress and the King of Rome. 
An Extraordinary Council of Regency was assembled at eight in 
the evening, and lasted far into the night. Many were of opinion 
that neither one nor the other should quit Paris, and this advice 
was most unquestionably the best. Those who gave it said with 
reason that the departure of these two personages would paralyse 
the means of defence, and at the same time destroy all hopes of 
opening negotiations, and obtaining such terms as might at least 
save the existence of the Government. The Empress, I have been 
told, was herself inclined to stay, and was not in the least alarmed 
at the prospect of what might happen. But Cambaceres, who 
was naturally timid, and who was besides anxious to place his 



* According to a letter of the 25th of March, received at the Luxem- 
bourg on the 27th, the Emperor was on that day at Doulevent near Join- 
ville. 



THE AGONY OF THE EMPIRE. 669 

fortune in safety, was against this course. Finally, King Jerome 
insisted strongly on the Emperor's letter which decided the ques- 
tion, commanding that in no case were his wife and son to be al- 
lowed to fall into the hands of the enemy ; and opinions came 
definitely round to the side of obeying the Emperor's orders. It 
was therefore determined that the Empress, the King of Rome, 
and a few persons of the Imperial family, should leave Paris the 
next day for Blois, by the road to Chartres, and that the Arch- 
chancellor, as Councillor, and the Duke of Cadore, as Secretary 
of State for the Regency, should follow the Empress. When I was 
informed by the King of the result of the Council, I could not 
disguise from him my disapprobation. But although it was im- 
possible to alter the dangerous decision, I tried to show him how 
important it was, that from the moment the heads of the Govern- 
ment left Paris, all subordinate authorities who might arrogate to 
themselves the right of stipulating or making terms, such as the 
Council of State, the Senate and the Court of Cassation, should also 
depart ; and there should only remain in the capital the magis- 
trates holding municipal functions, who could in no case treat, 
except concerning the private interests of the inhabitants of Paris. 
The King answered that, so soon as the necessity of capitulating 
should become obvious — if indeed such an extremity awaited us — 
the Regency would give orders to convene the State Bodies of 
which I spoke, and that, besides, military authority alone would 
be charged to treat with the enemy, without the concurrence of 
any political body. This reply was not completely satisfactory, 
for with the enemy, the authorities, whose banishment I asked for, 
could still, independently of negotiations, take general measures for 
the interior, which might affect the actual system of government 
or even hand over the power to others. But to induce the King 
to enter into my views, it would have been necessary to convince 
him, and make him see the danger as it was. And this I could 
not do. Nothing that I proposed was done, or if it was done, it 
was done too late to prevent the result which I had apprehended. 

On the morning of the 29th, King Joseph made me read a proc- 
lamation, in which he announced to the inhabitants of Paris, tjiat 
one of the enemy's columns was advancing by Meaux, but that it 
was followed by the victorious army of the Emperor, and he (the 
King) promised to remain with the National Guard, and to de- 
fend, with the aid of the citizens, the objects most dear to their 
hearts. Although the style of the proclamation was rather pom- 
pous, and that I should have preferred its being more simple ; al- 
though in my eyes it had the fault of disguising the extent of the 
danger, and awakening hopes of help on which the people could 
not count, yet, since it containeid an expression of generous senti- 



6/0 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

ments, and there was no time for amendments, I, on the whole, 
approved of it. The proclamation was posted up, and at first it 
produced a good effect. But when the public heard of the depar- 
ture of the Empress, and of the King of Rome, this good effect 
was done away with, and all confidence in the promises which it 
contained was lost. 

After his proclamation had been posted up, the King, accom- 
panied by his brother Jerome, rode out to make a reconnaissance 
on the road to Claye. The enemy had not attacked during the 
night, but he was ever drawing nearer, and our outposts retired 
before him. In the evening the junction of the troops of the 
Dukes of Treviso and Ragusa was effected, and the positions to 
the north and east of the city were occupied. 

The two marshals defended the ground situated between Cha- 
renton and Romainville ; General Compans was placed between 
Romainville and la Villette, and General Ormone between Romain- 
ville and Montmartre. During the day there had been a great 
deal to be done at the Luxembourg in the way of packing up and 
getting carriages. Very few persons had gone there ; the palace 
was deserted. I did not see M. de Jaucourt, and his absence was 
an evil omen. A courier arrived towards evening, and informed us 
that on the 28th of March the Emperor was at Troyes, and that 
he would soon be at Fontainebleau. This news was the death- 
blow to all our hopes. The Emperor was too far to aid us on the 
morrow, and that morrow would be the fatal day. 

I had retired to take a few minutes' repose when I was sum- 
moned to the King's presence. It was three in the morning 
(30th of March). He told me all was prepared for the departure 
of his wife and children, and that, should nothing favourable occur 
to change his resolution, they would set off before noon for Ram- 
bouillet,' where they would sleep, and from thence join the Em- 
press at Chartres, where she would arrive in the course of the day. 
He proposed that I should profit by this opportunity of leaving 
Paris, adding that if the offer pleased me, he would give orders 
that a suitable place should be reserved for me in the carriages. I 
replied that I did not think I ought to quit Paris, so long as the 
Council of State, of which I was a member, remained there ; that 
as I could not foresee whether circumstances would render a 
Council necessary, I ought not to expose myself by my absence to 
the suspicion of having thought of my own safety rather than of 
the obligation of fulfilling my duties. " Besides," I added, 
*' your Majesty does not think of leaving Paris, and when you are 
forced into doing so, the principal political bodies of the state will 
doubtless be called to accompany the Government, and I shall 
not hesitate to obey such a summons. But, until then, my place 



THE AGONY OF THE EMPIRE. 67 1 

is here, and I will not incur the just reproach of having deserted 
it." I could perceive that -this reply and the resolution it ex- 
pressed did not please King Joseph. However, he did not insist, 
and soon after leaving him I saw him mounting his horse. The 
last thing he said to me was that his headquarters would be at the 
telegraph hill at Montmartre, and that despatches and couriers 
were to be sent on to him there. He authorised me to open 
letters requiring an immediate reply, which I was if possible to 
give. 

I then went to the Queen's room. She received me, although 
she had not yet risen. She declared she would not leave Paris, 
that she had received no formal order to do so, and that until she 
did she would not go. Besides, she seemed to me to disapprove 
of the determination come to on the evening of the 28th, and told 
me that the Empress, whom she had seen on the preceding day, 
had shown the greatest repugnance to leaving Paris. On the 
whole, I was convinced from this interview, that the true situation 
had been better understood by the women than by the men, and 
that their natural tact had shown them what would be really con- 
ducive to the interests of their family. They reckoned on the in- 
fluence that their presence would have exercised on the con- 
querors, and particularly on the chivalrous character of the Em- 
peror Alexander, and they were not mistaken. It is certain — at 
least I think so — that had the Empress remained at Paris she 
would have saved her son from his fate, perhaps even her hus- 
band ; but destiny willed it otherwise. 

The enemy began the attack at five in the morning. The first 
roar of the cannon spread terror in the northern parts of the city, 
and many of my friends came to seek a refuge, with me, in the 
Luxembourg. A few persons of the King's party, also came to 
ask for news. Among the number was M. Andrieux, one of our 
most elegant poets and a celebrated man of letters. I shall never 
forget that, as he entered, he repeated these touching lines of Ho- 
mer, lines which Scipio had recited centuries before, when weep- 
ing over the misfortunes of Carthage : 

"Ecyaerai r//j.ap, 6t' av ttot' blui^^rj "Ykio'i iprj, 
KaL U-piajuoc, kqI AaoS evfijueAiu II piauoto,'^ 

And, without weakness, we indeed had occasion to weep. At 
ten o'clock the King sent General Espert with an order to the 
Queen to set out immediately with her children. Her sister the 
Princess Royal of Sweden was with her when this order arrived, 
and their parting was an affecting scene. By mid-day, the Lux- 

* Iliad, 4th book, v. 164. 



6/2 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

embourg was deserted ; every one had fled, and the most pro- 
found silence reigned there, where lately all had been so full of life. * 

Meanwhile, the noise of the cannon and musketry continued. 
The most terrible rumours were in circulation, but no certain intel- 
ligence was to be had. At one o'clock General Dejean, son of 
the senator of the same name, came to the palace. He found no 
one but myself with whom he could speak ; all the other officials 
of the household had either disappeared or followed the Queen. 
He told me that the Emperor had arrived at Fontainebleau on the 
evening of the preceding day, that a portion of his guard was with 
him, and that if Paris could hold out for the day — that is to say 
the day then passing — the Emperor would most assuredly be 
under the walls of Paris on the next, and in a position to defend 
the city. I could not do .otherwise than tell him where the King's 
headquarters were, and beg him to go there as quickly as possible, 
since his news might have great influence. He went, but I do 
not know whether he reached his destination, or fulfilled the mis- 
sion with which he was charged. So soon as General Dejean left 
me I went to visit my brother-in-law, M. Lacroix, who occupied 
apartments in the Rue de Vaugirard in the house of Count Bou- 
lay (of the Meurthe), President of the Section of Legislation of the 
Council of State, and while I was there a courier in the livery of 
Count Mole, Grand Judge, arrived. This courier brought orders 
to the Grand Dignitaries and Grand Officers of the Empire, to the 
Ministers, and to all the Members of the Senate and State Coun- 
cil, to leave Paris immediately and join the Empress at Chartres. 
Very few obeyed this order, and among those who refused the 
greater number gave no reason for so doing. A few, however, 
sent letters of excuse to the King, which were brought to me at 
the Luxembourg. Among others was that of M. de Fontanes, al- 
leging reasons of health, but protesting his readiness to obey so 
soon as he should be better. I heard nothing of M. de Jaucourt, 
but I was told that M. de Talleyrand had started, but had been 
stopped at the barrier by the National Guard, and forced to return 
to his house. For my own part, I did not hesitate as to what I 
should do. Having collected all the papers I had received during 
the day, I and M. Boulay (de la Meurthe) entered a carriage at 
five in the afternoon, and left Paris by the Vaugirard barrier with- 
out encountering any obstacle. 

The road along the left bank of the Seine was quite free. The 
cannon had ceased to roar, and the calm which surrounded us 



* The reader will be reminded by this passage of the opening scene of 
Count Miot's narrative, when he witnessed the desertion of Versailles. 
These were two strange experiences in a life. — (Translators.) 



THE "DfiGRINGOLADE." 673 

contrasted strangely with the trouble we had left behind. The 
image and the noise of war faded away. But on reaching Sevres, 
we found the highway blocked up with carriages and detachments 
of different corps, which had evacuated Paris, and were retiring 
rapidly on Versailles. In the latter town the confusion was great, 
and we had much trouble in getting horses to continue our jour- 
ney. At Versailles we heard that King Joseph and King Jerome 
had arrived there on horseback at about half-past four in the after- 
noon, and that they had gone on a few minutes later to Ram- 
bouillet. We gathered no further details ; we could only con- 
clude from this information, and the cessation of the firing, that 
some arrangement had been come to between the enemies, and 
probably a capitulation signed. At last, after seven hours on the 
road, we reached Rambouillet at midnight, and here I found the 
equipages which had brought Queen Julia ; and as the horses 
could go no farther, she had been obliged to take the diligence 
on to Chartres, to join the Empress, who had arrived there on the 
30th. At Rambouillet I parted from M. de Boulay, my brother 
procured me a place in one of the Queen's carriages, and I reach- 
ed Chartres on the 31st of March, overwhelmed with fatigue both 
of body and mind. The King, whom I found there, received me 
rather coldly, and this was the first time during our long and 
intimate friendship that he showed himself ill-disposed towards 
me. He appeared angry that I had not consented to leave Paris 
in the morning as he had proposed. I think however there was no 
solid ground of objection to the motives that had determined my 
refusal, but on this I did not insist ; in the situation in which we 
found ourselves, ill-temper was quite excusable, and it was easy to 
find fault with each other's conduct, without one being more in 
the right than the other. I was at the end of my journey, and 
with the Regency as I had been commanded. I had done my 
duty ; the rest was beyond me. 

We remained only one day at Chartres. On the ist of April 
we went to Chateaudun, and slept there that night, and the next 
day we reached Blois, where the Empress had arrived the day be- 
fore, as well as the Arch-chancellor and the other Great Officers of 
State, who had left Paris with her on the 29th of March. She es- 
tablished the seat of government in that town, assembled the min- 
isters, held councils, and published a proclamation to encourage 
'her partisans. How vain were all such efforts ! The Government 
lasted but a few days. I cannot, however, pass in silence over the 
part played by the various persons called together for the moment 
at Blois. 

The Emperor's three brothers were, next to the Empress, those 
who, on account of their position, exercised the greatest influence 



6/4 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

on public affairs ; but King Jerome showed the most energy. His 
natural hastiness of temper was disliked by the Empress, whom he 
often annoyed. 

King Joseph was calmer and more dignified, although he under- 
stood better than the others the inextricable difficulties in which 
he was entangled. As for King Louis, either from philosophy or 
resignation, he held himself quite aloof, and appeared to think 
only of his religious duties, for we were then in Easter week. 

In the second rank was the Arch-chancellor. In accordance 
with his usual habits, he had surrounded himself with the etiquette 
of his palace in Paris. From early morning he gave audiences, 
attired in his brilliant uniform and with all his decorations. And 
as the streets of Blois are too steep for carriages, he went to visit 
the Empress and the Princes in a sedan-chair. 

Among the ministers was Count Mole, Grand Judge, Count 
Montalivet, Minister of the Interior, and the Duke of Feltre, 
Minister of War. * 

Among the Ministers of State was Regnault de Saint Jean 
d'Angely, who had just returned very ill satisfied with a mission 
that the Empress had sent him on to her father at Dijon, Baron 
Costaz and myself. Many others who had left Paris, but who had 
been unable to reach Blois, remained at Orleans. Among the 
number was Count Boulay, with whom I had travelled as far as 
Rambouillet. We, however, remained unemployed and were not 
summoned to attend a single council. 

Any one else at all remarkable belonged to the Court of the 
Empress and King of Rome. Here was also the Baron de la 
Bouillerie, treasurer to the Empress, who rode at the head of a 
string of wagons, full of the treasures carried off from the cellars 
of the Tuileries, and who boasted at that time that he had pre- 
served them for their rightful owner. 

I did not see a single member of the Senate. The number of 
administrators and ministers, small as it was, diminished instead 
of increasing. During many days we remained in ignorance of 
what was passing in Paris, the Empress's Government having no 
official correspondence with the capital. We knew only that the 
Emperor was still at Fontainebleau ; but we did not know what 
had passed between him and the Allies. Had he come to terms ? 
Was he marching at the head of his army to regain his capital ? 
Such were the questions men asked each other all through the 
day, and none could give an answer. However it was considered 
certain that Paris was occupied by the enemy, in consequence of 

* These were the only ministers I had occasion to see at Blois. I 
however, met Count Mollien at Chartres. 



BLOis. 6y^ 

the capitulation, which King Joseph, when leaving the army on 
the 30th of March, had authorised the Dukes of Treviso and Ra- 
gusa to negoTiate and conclude. 

In the hope of clearing up our uncertainty respecting the true 
state of affairs, King Joseph went on the 4th of April, at two in 
the afternoon, to join the Emperor at Fontainebleau. At the 
same time measures were taken to transport the Empress and all 
her suite to Orleans, where she would be nearer her husband ; 
but these plans were not carried out. Hostile bands occupied the 
road between Orleans and Fontainebleau, and the King was 
obliged to return to Blois on the morning of the 5th. The proj- 
ect of taking the Empress to Orleans was likewise given up ; it was 
even proposed to take her still farther away.* The King's return, 
this change of plans as to the sojourn or departure of the Empress, 
the misunderstanding existing — according to town talk — between 
herself and her brothers-in-law, heightened the alarm of those per- 
sons then at Blois, and many among them, already thinking of 
throwing up the game, no longer appeared, or began to make 
arrangements for returning to Paris. 

The 6th of April went by in these alternations of hopes and 
fears. We heard that the Princess of Neuchatel, who was then at 
Chambord,f had received good news, and an aide-de-camp of 
King Jerome was at once sent to her ; he brought back a note in 
these words : * * We have an armistice of forty-eight hours which will 
result in peace. ' ' We slept well on this news. But on the 7th of 
April what a change of scene ! what a turn of Fortune's wheel ! 

King Joseph summoned me to his presence tow^ards mid-day. 
I found with him his two brothers, his mother, his wife, and his 
two daughters. A table was strewn with papers. He gave me 
several and told me to read them. One was a letter from the 
Duke of Bassano, written at Fontainebleau on the 6th of April ; 
two memoranda were attached to this. The minister expressed in 
a few lines the deep grief with which he fulfilled the sad duties im- 
posed on him. Then, without any details of preceding events, he 
addressed to the King copies of the two memoranda. The first 
was written in the following terms : 

' ' The Emperor Napoleon, being informed that he is the sole 
obstacle to the pacification of Europe, offers to abdicate and even 
to lay down his life if necessary ; but he considers that the succes- 
sion should be preserved in his family, and his dynasty maintained, 
for its existence is indispensable to the welfare of France. ' ' J 

* It was proposed that she should go to Tours. 

f Chambord is near Blois. on the left bank of the Loire. 

\ See in the Moniteur of the I2ih of April, 1814, the final act of abdica- 



6^6 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The second bore the singular title of *' verbal note," and ap- 
peared to be a reply to the preceding paper, or rather a sort of ulti- 
matum dictated at the close of a negotiation. It was as follows : 

" The Allied Powers, wishing to prove that all animosity on 
their part ended at the moment when peace was established, and 
desiring to treat the Emperor Napoleon with due consideration, 
since his name will occupy a place in history, have agreed to cede 
to him the entire possession of the island of Elba with a revenue 
of six millions of francs, three millions for himself and three mill- 
ions to be divided between his three brothers, Joseph, Louis and 
Jerome, and his sister* Eliza and Pauline, and Queen Hortense, 
who will be considered as a sister on account of her position with 
respect to her husband." 

I cannot express my feelings on reading these documents, so 
extraordinary in matter and in form, under the very eyes of those 
whom they struck as with a thunderbolt. For, although the 
Duke of Bassano added nothing to this communication, it ap- 
peared certain that the abdication had taken place ;* and from 
the fact that the Allied Powers decreed the fate of the Emperor's 
family, it was also evident that the dynasty was overthrown, and 
all hope lost. Thus, then, I was a spectator of the close of this 
great tragedy, and mingled with the secret horror with which that 
terrible stroke of fortune filled me, was a profound pity for the 
victims of the catastrophe. I confess that bitter tears rose to my 
eyes, and I forgot in a moment every cause of irritation in com- 
miseration for so great a misfortune, and in the hopes of finding 
means to soften it. 

The Emperor left his family without counsel or commands. 
He did not request any of his brothers to follow him, but all the 
members of the Imperial family then at Blois were terribly alarmed 
lest the Allied Powers should impose on them also the obligation 
of living in the island of Elba, and should give them the revenues 
assigned to them on that condition only. This appeared to them 
the most imminent danger they had to fear, and consequently the 
one to be most urgently guarded against. It was therefore re- 
solved that I should go to Paris, to procure passports, so that each 
one might retire to some part of Switzerland or Germany. In the 
influence of the Princess of Sweden was their chief hope for the 
success of this negotiation. Nevertheless, King Joseph gave me a 
letter for M. de Talleyrand, and King Louis, one for Prince 



tion of the nth. Everything relating to the dynasty has been sup- 
pressed. 

* It took place a few days later, on account of the form being changed, 
as I have just explained. 



THE ASPECT OF PARIS. 6// 

Schwarzenberg, with whom he was on friendly terms. Finally, 
the Queen gave me a private letter for M. de Jaucourt. She said 
in giving it to~me that she relied very much on his friendship, and 
did not fear to put it to the proof.* 

The Duke of Feltre was next summoned, and he undertook to 
provide me with a passport, and at the same time he gave me a 
letter for his wife. This I promised should reach her. M. de la 
Bouillerie was also summoned, as it was indispensable to inform 
him of what had occurred, and he was now sparing in his profes- 
sions of attachment — no doubt the Emperor's cause seemed to 
him hopeless, and he knew he possessed many ways of righting 
himself with the government which should succeed to the vanished 
empire. 

I started at eleven at night on the yth of April, and there I was 
on the road to Paris with no other protection than a passport from 
the Duke of Feltre, who was at that time in bad odour. How- 
ever, in spite of the alarm with which people at Orleans regarded 
my journey, I arrived without any adventures at the enemy's out- 
posts, which I found two miles and a half on the Orleans side of 
Etampes. Here my carriage was stopped for a moment ; but on 
my declaration that I was an inhabitant of Paris returning home, I 
was allowed to pass without any difficulty. I did not even deem 
it advisable to show my passport, which might have aroused sus- 
picion, and I reached Paris on the evening of the 6th of April, 
without having made use of it. I had met with no obstacle ex- 
cept the difficulty of procuring post-horses. 

The aspect of Paris was entirely changed. Soldiers of every 
nation and tongue crowded the streets. In the hats of the men I 
noticed white cockades, and the women wore bunches of lilies in 
their hair ; everything that could have recalled the Emperor's 
power was effaced ; the statue on the top of the column of the 
Place Vendome was thrown down ; the tricolour flag which had 
floated for more than twenty-five years over the Tuileries was re- 
moved. On the 2d of April, the Senate had pronounced the dep- 
osition of the Emperor, and already scarcely a letter of his name 
remained on the public monuments. His name, who ten days 
before had filled the city with trophies of his glory ! The Senate, 
so unwisely left behind in Paris, had put the time to profit. A 
Constitution, improvised within four days, and by which the Sen- 
ators took care that they themselves should be well repaid, by 
hereditary power and by endowments for the services they had 

* By the Paris newspapers, received at the same time as the Duke of 
Bassano's letter, we had heard of the formation of a Provisional Govern- 
ment, of which M. de Talleyrand was president, and M. de Jaucourt a 
member. 



67Z MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

rendered the Bourbons, was the laughing-stock of every one. A 
proclamation dated from Hartwell, and posted on the walls of 
Paris, and which the Provisional Government had been obliged to 
disown, had raised alarm among the purchasers of national prop- 
erty. * Precipitation and unreason seem to have directed all these 
strange proceedings ; and yet some change was so needed, every 
one was so afraid of being the last to consent to these novelties, that 
addresses of adhesion to the measures taken by the Senate poured in 
without intermission and filled those very columns in the Moniteur 
that were formerly occupied by protestations of fidelity and devo- 
tion to the Emperor and his dynasty, f signed with the same 
names. 

Although these scenes offered me a large field of observation, I 
did not on that account aeglect the object of my journey, and the 
business with which I was entrusted was my first care. The very 
day of my arrival I visited the Princess of Sweden. She was ex- 
pecting a visit on the following day from the Emperor of Russia, 
and she hoped to obtain through his kindness all the requisite 
facilities for the departure of Napoleon's family. She also hoped 
to obtain permission for her sister to remain in France with her 
two daughters, and advised me not to include them in the demand 
for passports which I was about to make to the Provisional Gov- 
ernment. 

I called the next morning on M. de Talleyrand ; but I requested 
an interview with him in vain. The Emperor of Russia was with 
him ; a crowd of place-hunters and courtiers filled the reception- 
rooms, and among them I saw men whom I had left two days 
earlier at Blois. I redoubled my entreaties to the surly ushers ; 

* I here give the paragraph of this proclamation relating to the Na- 
tional Property, which caused such well-founded alarm. " As for the 
Property question, the King, who has already announced his intention of 
using every means in his power to protect the various interests of all, 
sees in the numerous arrangements already made between Ihe old and 
new proprietors, a way of rendering any further legislation superfluous. 
Nevertheless he pledges himself to forbid any appeal to law which might 
upset these arrangements, to confine himself to encouraging amicable 
transactions, and himself and his family will set the example of making 
any sacrifice which may contribute to the happiness of France and the 
union of the French people." 

f Among these numerous addresses, several made a great impression 
on me ; those, for instance, of Cambaceres, and of General Mathieu, a 
kinsman of King Joseph, and of the Chief of his Staff, both of whom I 
had left at Blois. Their addresses are dated the 8th and gth of April, and 
the Empress was then at Blois ! The address of Count Philip de Segur 
was remarkable for the chivalry of its sentiments. And this name, " a 
pledge of the oaths sworn to the Bourbons" by M. de Segur, reappears 
just a year after, among those of the officers of the Empire who flocked to 
the Tuileries to serve Napoleon. 



COUNT DE JAUCOURT. 679 

I wrote a line saying from whom I came ; I was only told I could 
not be received and must return at some other hour. I did re- 
turn ; and met with the same reception, or rather non-reception. 
Finally, after four vain attempts, I was obliged to renounce the 
hope of seeing this invisible deity. The unfortunate ambassador 
of a deposed power, I was unable to deliver my letters of credit, 
and the very doors which ten days before would have been flung 
wide open at the name of him who sent me, now refused to turn 
upon their hinges to admit me into the sanctuary. 

I had no better luck with M. de Jaucourt ; he received me 
before breakfast. I thought it wiser, in the changed condition of 
affairs to abandon our former familiarity of language, and he did 
not recall it.* I gave him the Queen's letter and told him how 
firmly she confided in the friendship of her former chamberlain. 
He replied that of course he would do all he could, that he would 
present a report at the next meetmg of the Provisional Govern- 
ment, which would then give instructions to the Minister of For- 
eign Affairs, on whom he advised me to call. Then, curtly 
changing the conversation, '* Well, where is he?" he asked me. 
" Has he gone ? What is he doing at Fontainebleau ? You must 
know what is going on. So long as he is there, our labour is 
useless, and we cannot be at ease. ' ' I assured him I was not in 
a position to answer these questions, that according to the orders 
given to the Senate and the Council of State I had gone to Blois, 
where I had been for six days, and during that time we had only 
once received news from Fontainebleau, by the Duke of Bassano, 
announcing the Emperor's abdication. ** Well," he retorted, 
•* the abdication is not yet accomplished ; he bargains, and there 
are still troops in that direction ; we cannot be at ease until he is 
gone. ' ' Since I could do nothing to relieve his mind, I returned 
to the object of my visit, but not being able to regain his atten- 
tion I took leave of him. 

There now remained King Louis' letter to Prince Schwarzen- 
berg, but here my luck was even worse. I was unable to get past 
the Hussars and Cossacks who guarded the entrance of his palace, 
and was forced to entrust the letter to a lady of my acquaintance, 
who assured me she could find means to deliver it into his hands. 

I sent the letter from the Duke of Feltre to his wife, and this 
was the only mission in which I did not fail. After all this tiring 
work, I returned home, and wrote an account of it to King Jo- 
seph. My letter was taken by a courier whom the Princess of 
Sweden was despatching to her sister. The next day, April loth, 
I heard from the Princess that her request had been well received 

* We were accustomed to use the familiar " TAou,'* and " T^ee." 



680 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

by the Emperor of Russia, and that I would no doubt obtain the 
passport in the course of the day. Following M. de Jaucourt's 
instructions, I went at an early hour to the Provisional Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, Count Laforet. He received me at once. I 
explained to him the object of my visit. He told me he had re- 
ceived no orders from the Government, and that he could not, un- 
less authorised to do so, let me have the passports which I solic- 
ited. * * Besides, ' ' added he, "I don' t exactly know what posi- 
tion I hold here. I have been named Minister of Foreign Af- 
fairs, but I am the shadow of a minister at the head of a shadowy 
department. I am like that shadow of a coachmai\, who in 
Pluto's regions, used to polish the shadow of a coach with the 
shadow of a brush." Having no reply to make to this sample of 
Scarronian learning, I took my departure and heard nothing more 
of the matter. But at length, two days later, M. de Laforet sent 
to beg I would immediately call on him. I hastened to his 
house, and he showed me a paper, signed by the five members of 
the Provisional Government, on which was written an authorisa- 
tion to him to have passports for King Joseph and his family is- 
sued, but on condition that the King should not return to France 
without leave from the Government. This clause was to be in- 
serted in the passports. He then informed me, that it was not 
from him, as Minister or the shadow of a Minister, of Foreign 
Affairs, that I was to obtain the passports, but that they would be 
delivered to me at the Ministry of Police. I went there to claim 
them, and they were granted without difficulty on the same day, 
the 15th of April. I forwarded them at once to Orleans, whither 
King Joseph had proceeded on leaving Blois, and where I had ad- 
dressed several letters to him acquainting him with the progress of 
my negotiations. 

But I had not reached the end of the trouble which this mission 
was destined to cause me. The passports gave dissatisfaction ; 
the clause they contained was looked upon as an insult, and the 
King was seriously angry with me for having admitted it, and for 
having sent him passports containing such a clause. He wrote 
me a very sharp letter,* which hurt my feelings all the more be- 



* Here is the King's letter : 

'* Orleans, April 17th, 1814. 
" Monsieur le comte. 

" I have received various letters from you. The letter of the 15th 
does not harmonise with the preceding ones. How could you imagine I 
should ever consent to proscribe myself ? I leave such a task to those 
who consider it their duty. Such as I am, no one can insult me without 
inflicting an insult upon himself. My brother, the King of Westphalia, 
has received passports containing no such humiliating clause. I do not 



THE END OF THE EMPIRE. 68 1 

cause of its injustice. I had done all that man could do, and be- 
sides, I could see nothing humiliating in the imposed conditions. 
The Emperor'^ abdication had rendered the formation of a Gov- 
ernment, even as regarded his family, legitimate ; since no coun- 
try can exist without one de facto or dejure, and that Government 
was free to impose the condition it had placed upon the issue of 
the passports. This was an act of regular authority, and in my 
opinion at least there was no disgrace in submitting to it. 

Owing to this unlucky incident, a coolness arose between King 
Joseph and myself. He started alone and without passports for 
Switzerland, where he went to reside at the Chateau de Prangins, 
and I did not accompany him. Thus my relations with a man 
for whom 1 had a boundless affection were broken off. They 
were, however, renewed in later days, and I can now look back 
without bitterness on the wrong he did me, from an over-suscepti- 
bility of feeling. 

To bring my account of this period to an end, I have only to 
add a few words about my personal affairs. So soon as the abdi- 
cation of the Emperor, on the nth of April, was known, the mem- 
bers of the Council of State, convened by the Provisional Govern- 
ment, assembled on the same day at the palace of the Tuileries. 
Being set free from their oaths by this abdication, they gave their 
adhesion to the changes which had occurred, and I was among 
the number of those who signed the act which appeared in the 
Moniteur of the 12 th of April. But very soon a distinction was 
made between the various Councillors, and when, on the i6th of 
April, the Council was presented to Monsieur the King's brother, 
who had just arrived in Paris, those of its members who had fol- 
lowed the Empress to Blois,* were excluded from it ; so that the 
treason of the Councillors of State to him who had just fallen, was 
accepted as a guarantee of their fidelity to the new Government. 
Was not this sound reasoning ? 

My exclusion from the Council decided my fate, and the effort 
that I made to be re-admitted, in accordance with the wishes of 
my family, having failed, f I gave up politics, and settled at Ver- 

doubt your good will, but you were very much deceived if you thought to 
render me a service by advising me to an act of cowardice. 

" Believe nevertheless in my gratitude for your trouble, and in my 
attachment. 

'* Your affectionate, 

"Joseph." 

* The Queen and her daughters came back to Paris, where I saw them 
several times. They lived with the Princess Royal of Sweden. 

f I wrote on the i8th of April to M. de Talleyrand, who did not reply 
to my letter. 



682 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

sailles, where some of my relatives resided. A few days later I 
was joined there by my son-in-law, my son, and my nephew. 
They had left Fontainebleau after the departure of Napoleon. 
Having witnessed the last scenes which had taken place there, and 
which Vernet has since so vividly reproduced in his pictures, they 
were enabled to give us all the details. 

Shortly after my establishment at Versailles, Louis XVIII. en- 
tered Paris, and disregarding the Constitution drawn up by the 
Senate, gave France the Charter — a monument of wisdom and 
prudence, which must, it seemed, put a term to all the convul- 
sions of the country, and fix its destiny for ever. A regular Gov- 
ernment was organized ; the Council of State was re-established, 
and as I was not among those members who were summoned to 
join it, I received the .retiring pension to which I was entitled. 
My son-in-law and I then bought between us a farm at Polangis, 
near Saint-Maur-sur-Marne. Thither I removed my household 
goods ; and on the i8th of July I was quite settled in my new 
home. I hoped to pass quietly the rest of my life there, but this 
was not to be ; I had not yet " dree'd my weird." 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXXVI. 



King Joseph's Letter to the Emperor Napoleon. 

" Sire : Your Majesty's ministers furnish me regularly with extracts 
from their correspondence. I read them with all the interest that present 
circumstances inspire. I regret to inform your Majesty, that I find 
everywhere in them symptoms of the decline of authority, and prognos- 
tications of the complete dissolution of the administration. 

" The presence of the enemy, independently of the ravages and the 
misery it occasions, has still more fatal consequences, in the loosening of 
all the bonds which unite the people to the Government ; and the means 
to which it is necessary to have recourse in those places not occupied by 
the enemy, in order to provide for urgent and ever-recurring necessities, 
are beyond all precedent, are exhausting our resources, and at the same 
time demoralizing the public mind. 

" Already in the departments in the centre of La Vendee, germs of in- 
surrection are developing, and the Senator Comte Canclaux shows great 
alarm respecting the state of public opinion. The appearance of the 
enemy in the department of the Somme, and the momentary occupation 
of the citadel of Doulens, are events which, if we may believe what Sen- 
ator Villemanzy writes, did not take place without the connivance of the 
inhabitants. 

* ' Senator Latour-Maubourg is full of alarm respecting the efifect that 
the presence of the enemy, now in Picardy, may produce on Normandy, 
and still more so on account of a ship hoisting the white flag, which has 
been signalled from the coast. 

" At the present time, the movements of the enemy at Meaux, and the 
terror they have inspired in Paris, have dismayed every mind ; and such 
alarm cannot be felt without giving rise to popular discontent, which 
tends to alienate the people from us. 

" The victories gained by your Majesty, and the odious conduct of the 
enemy, cannot, Sire, counterbalance these unfortunate tendencies. The 
most brilliant successes will not cause the miseries of the war to be for- 
gotten, and the most fortunate of wars, by putting off from day to day 
the establishment of a regular order of administration, will but accelerate 
the fall of the financial and administrative system that now threatens us. 

" Peace alone can heal our wounds, if indeed they are not become quite 
incurable. Your Majesty, after having in so short a time changed the 
face of affairs, and after having once more displayed to Europe that 
transcendant military talent which you never demonstrate with greater 
force than in the most critical circumstances, has now done all that was 
necessary to save France from a dishonourable peace. It remains for you 
to achieve a great work, by arresting, through the rule you seem to exer- 



684 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 



cise over events, the evil which at present permeates every part of the 
social body. Every other consideration should give way before so press- 
ing a necessity, and with so precious an interest at stake, your Majesty 
may make any sacrifices without fearing that you can ever be reproached 
with them. 

" I hope that your Majesty will recognise in the freedom with which I 
explain mysell only a proof of the interest I take in your glory and in the 
happiness of France, which is inseparable from it, and that you will con- 
sider me merely as the interpreter of the wishes and opinions of your 
most sincere friends and devoted servants. 

" I am, etc. 

(Signed) "Joseph." 

" Paris, March 1st, 1814," 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE HUNDRED DAYS. 

After Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba the Author re-enters the 
Council of State — Appearance of the Imperial Court at an audience 
given at the Tuileries — The Author again meets Prince Joseph — Dec- 
laration of the Council of State respecting the dogma of the sovereignty 
of the people — Addresses of the principal tribunals and of the minis- 
ters, in favour of the re-establishment of Imperial authority — State 
reception at the Tuileries — The Author is sent as Commissioner- Extraor- 
dinary of the Government into the departments composing the 12th 
Military Division, and goes to La Rochelle — Feeling of the inhabitants 
of the different departments which he visits — Difficulties encountered by 
him — Hostile disposition of the inhabitants of apart of La Vendee, and 
especially the town of Nantes — Unfortunate effect produced by the publi- 
cation of the Additional Act — Warm reception given to the Author at 
Poitiers — On his return to Paris, the Author renders an account of his 
mission to the Emperor — Influence of Prince Lucien, who has returned 
to Paris, on affairs — The news from Vienna having put an end to all 
hope of a pacific arrangement with the Allied Powers, the Emperor has 
no other chance but war — Distrust inspired in the Government by the 
attitude of several general officers, and also by the majority of the 
nominations to the elective Chamber — Solemnity of the Champ de Mai 
— Discourse pronounced on this occasion, in the name of the electors, 
and the Emperor's reply — Solemn opening of the session of the Cham- 
bers, on the 7th June — The Emperor leaves Paris on the 12th for the 
northern frontier — Abandoning the army after the disaster of Waterloo, 
he returns to Paris during the night of the 20th of June — His abdica- 
tion, strenuously opposed by Lucien, is resolved upon, and sent to the 
Chambers — The Author hears that his son-in-law has been killed, and 
his son seriously wounded in the battle of Waterloo — Dispersion of all 
the members of Napoleon's family — The Author returns to the country, 
where the generous protection of the Emperor Alexander secures both 
him and his family from injury by the allied troops — Death of the 
Count's son in consequence of his wound — At the end of two years the 
Author, having sold his country house, returns to Paris, where, remote 
from public affairs, and occupied with literary work, he lives in pro- 
found retirement. 

During the latter part of 18 14, and the beginning of 18 15, j 
lived in retirement, occupied with literary work. During this in- 
terval I made only two or three journeys to Paris, and thus re- 
mained an entire stranger to the political events of that period. 
Nevertheless I perceived by the action of the Government since 



686 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

the Restoration, that far from gaining the hold on the pubHc which 
it greatly needed, so many private interests were irritated and in- 
jured by it, that, having struck no roots, it would be powerless to 
resist the first violent shock it might sustain. Circumstances 
speedily justified my conviction. The Emperor returned from 
Elba, and the Bourbons, abandoned by the Army, fled before 
him. But I only learned the fact of his return and its accompany- 
ing circumstances from the Moniteur. Notwithstanding my former 
friendships with the family, I received no private information of 
the event, and I had afterwards reason to believe that the daring 
Genius who had conceived and put into execution so rash an en- 
terprise had admitted no one to his confidence. I have therefore 
nothing particular to say concerning the Emperor's return, except- 
ing that I regretted it profoundly, and that when the news reached 
my retreat, I was seized with a presentiment, afterwards too fully 
realised, of what the consequences would be. 

My position did not however admit of my remaining a mere 
spectator of this fresh crisis. My son-in-law. General Jamin, was 
still in command of the mounted Grenadiers of the old Imperial 
Guard, which Louis XVIII. had retained, and he, as well as my 
son and my nephew, his aides-de-camp, were carried along with 
the movement which the Emperor' s return had communicated to 
all their former comrades in the army. I could not, without dis- 
owning them, refuse to re-enter the Council of State, from which 
the King had excluded me, and to which I was now recalled by 
the Emperor. I therefore yielded, though regretfully, to fate, and 
went to Paris on the 23d of March, 181 5. I found a crowd in 
the private apartment of the Emperor at the Tuileries. The former 
Grand Officers of the Empire had already returned to their posts ; 
M. de Segur, carrying the wand of the Grand Master of Cere- 
monies, was busy re-establishing the etiquette of the Imperial Pal- 
ace, in spite of his name having been given in by his son as a 
" guarantee of the oaths of fidelity to Louis XVIII." The Sena- 
tors who had not been created peers by the King, re-appeared in 
their senatorial garments, the Councillors of State had likewise put 
on their former robes. Ministers, Marshals, Generals, and a great 
number of officers of every rank, had hastened to the palace, and 
the tricoloured cockade appeared again in the hats of the soldiers. 
The metamorphosis was as sudden as it was complete. In the 
midst of this eager crowd, Napoleon remained calm, and his face 
showed no signs of astonishment or exaltation. It would seem as 
if nothing extraordinary had happened, and he stood there as 
though he had never been absent. He spoke a good deal, and in 
his discourses gave way to no recrimination against the Bourbons. 
He only pointed out, and with justice, the faults they had com- 



PRINCE JOSEPH'S RETURN. 68/ 

mitted, and the errors into which they had fallen, by alienating 
from themselves the public feeling of France, that alone could up- 
hold them, and by giving themselves up to emigres, priests, and 
former courtiers, who could give them no firm support. He re- 
peated many times that but for the mistakes of the Government he 
would never have thought of returning to France, and that it was 
the Bourbons themselves who had opened the way for him. 

After this audience, I went to call on Prince Joseph, who had 
left Switzerland and just arrived in Paris. He received me well, 
but still not with the affection to which our former friendship had 
accustomed me. I found him surrounded with persons who came 
to entreat him to get them taken back into the Emperor's favour, 
and who, not having dared to present themselves at the Tuileries, 
implored his good offices. He received them with the greatest 
kindness, worked for them zealously, and succeeded in a great 
number of cases. As to those towards whom the Emperor was 
inflexible, they afterwards made a merit of their disgrace, and ac- 
counted for his refusal to receive them, by their too well-known 
attachment to the cause of the Bourbons ! 

On the 25 th of March, the Council of State was assembled 
under the presidency of Count Defermon, the earliest in date 
among the Presidents of Section. Count Thibaudeau, reporter of 
a Commission charged to present a declaration of the Council on 
the situation of affairs, read to us the draft which had been drawn 
up by him and adopted by the Commission. Its principles, which 
re-established the dogma of the sovereignty of the people, could not 
be pleasing to the Emperor, who during all his political career 
had always opposed that dogma, or at least only professed it in 
order not too rudely to shock the ideas adopted by the majority of 
the nation. But at this epoch the Council reverted to the doc- 
trines of the early days of the Revolution, and flattered itself it 
could secure their triumph, as the only doctrines which could at- 
tract the middle and lower ranks of society, in which it was obliged 
to seek its principal support, to the Government. The draft of 
declaration was therefore adopted without difficulty, and I, with 
the great majority of my colleagues, signed it. 

While the Council of State was deliberating on this declaration 
and adopting it, the other great Bodies of the State, such as the 
Court of Cassation, the Court of Appeal, and what appeared more 
extraordinary, the Ministers themselves, held meetings, and voted 
addresses more or less in favour of the re-establishment of the Im- 
perial authority. 

Lastly, everything being prepared beforehand, on the following 
day, March 26th, the Emperor gave a State reception at the Tuil- 
eries to the various authorities, listened to the addresses which 



688 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

were read to him, and replied by assurances of moderation, and 
respect for the rights of the people. He said that he had re- 
nounced that great Empire for the establishment of which he had 
worked during fifteen years, and that he abdicated the ambitious 
titles of King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the 
Rhine, and Mediator of the Swiss Leagues. But notwithstanding 
this abdication and the novelty of his language, he did not suc- 
ceed in dispelling all distrust. Every countenance was serious, 
and anxiety was to be read in them all ; there was a visible con- 
straint, and many of the generals, among others Alexandre Girar- 
din and Cesar Berthier, seemed to me greatly at a loss to know 
what to do with themselves, and with the tricolour which had re- 
placed the white cockade they had worn in their hats for now 
nearly a year. General Berthier said a great deal to me about the 
anxiety which the position of his brother the Prince of Wagram 
occasioned him. He told me that he had written begging him to 
return and throw himself on the generosity of the Emperor. A 
short time afterwards Napoleon let Cesar Berthier know that the 
Prince of Wagram had nothing to fear in returning to France.* 
And that forgiveness was sincere, for in truth never was there a 
sovereign less vindictive than Napoleon. 

When the Emperor crossed the Salle des Mar^chaux, on his 
way to mass, and the room which precedes the Council-chamber 
of the Council of State, he was greeted with loud acclamations by 
the officers of the Imperial and National Guards. On his return 
he gave audience, but he did not show himself outside the palace. 

After this fashion was the newly restored Government inaugu- 
rated. To all outward appearance everything had assumed its ac- 
customed order. The Emperor's absence had not lasted long 
enough to break through former habits, and the interregnum had 
been barely perceptible. But that it was far otherwise with the 
mind of the public, soon became manifest. 

The Emperor presided in person over the Council of State on 
the 28th of March. On entering the Hall he looked up at the 
ceiling, on which G6rard had painted the battle of Austerlitz, and 
he seemed pleased to find the painting just as he had left it. He 
then asked for the orders of the day, and made no allusion to the 
general situation of affairs. He was waiting the issue of some ne- 
gotiations which he was attempting with the Congress of Vienna 
(they were all rejected), and his ideas on the direction to be given 
to the Government, and on the nature of the modifications which 

* He had forsaken the Emperor after his abdication, and the King had 
appointed him one of the Captains of the Body Guard. At the news of 
the landing of Napoleon at Frejus, he had left Paris, and tak^n refuge in 
Germany, where he perished miserably. 



A MISSION. 689 



he had promised to introduce into the Imperial Constitution, were 
not yet sufficiently fixed for him to bring forward subjects of such 
importance. The sitting was therefore of little interest. Those 
which were held in the month of April were far more important. 
The debates on the famous Additional Articles were very animated, 
especially when M. Benjamin Constant, who had been appointed 
a Councillor of State, took part in them. 

During those debates I was absent from Paris. I therefore ab- 
stain from any account of what then took place at the Council, 
and will say a few words respecting the object of my journey. 

On Sunday the 9th of April I received, while in the country, a 
letter from the Minister of the Interior,* ordering me, in the 
name of the Emperor, to start that night for La Rochelle, as Gov- 
ernment Commissioner Extraordinary for the departments com- 
prised in the 12th Military Division. f Some few Senators and 
several of my colleagues had been appointed to discharge similar 
duties in the other divisions. That which had fallen to me was, 
doubtless, not one of the least difficult ; I was going into a part of 
the country that had long suffered from civil war ; I should meet 
the Emperor's most determined enemies, English agents, and 
perhaps even some of the Bourbon Princes, who, it was said, had 
remained in those parts, in order to keep up the zeal of their ad- 
herents. My instructions were not very explicit, but on the other 
hand extensive powers were conferred on me ; I could dismiss 
and replace the civil authorities (prefects alone excepted) and the 
treasury officials. I was to organise the National Guard every- 
where, to encourage the formation of volunteer corps, and to di- 
rect them towards the northern frontiers, and I was to do all these 
things without delay ; rapidity of execution was especially expected 
from me. 

After having obtained some information from Regnault de St. 
Jean d'Angely concerning the neighbourhood, of which he was a 
native and which he knew well, I left Paris on the morning of the 
loth of April, and arrived at La Rochelle on the 13th in the even- 
ing. The Minister of the Interior had given me the names of the 
new prefects just appointed by the Emperor to the department of 
the 1 2th Military Division. I found that Baron Arbaud de 
Jonques was still at La Rochelle ; he had been prefect under the 
Royalist Government in the department of Charente Inferieure. 
He was waiting for his successor, M. Boissy d'Anglas. M. Ar- 
baud made great complaints to me of his dismissal, and warmly 

* General Carnot, whom a few days previously the Emperor had made 
a Count and Minister of the Interior. 

f That is, the departments of La Vienne, Deux Sdvres, Charente Infe- 
rieure, La Vendee and Loire-Inf6rieure. 



690 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

protested his devotion in the service of the Emperor. He was 
eager to explain to me all his claims to less severe treatment, on 
account of the services he had rendered to the Imperial Govern- 
ment at different times, and particularly when Prefect of the 
Hautes-Pyrenees at the time of our retreat from Spain. He begged 
me to forward his petition to Paris, and I did. so. It obtained no 
attention, and the fact that it did not, became in his case, as in 
many others, a title to fresh favours from the restored Royalist 
Government. * 

The people appeared to regard the change of their magistrates 
with considerable indifference. So many similar convulsions had 
successively occurred at very short intervals, that their political 
sensitiveness was worn out. I found the department quite tran- 
quil. The dwellers in the towns, trembling for their trade, were, 
if not hostile, at least cold ; the country people, who believed the 
Emperor's return would protect them from the nobles and priests 
who had tyrannised over them, were less indifferent, and were 
ready to make further sacrifices. 

I remained several days at La Rochelle. In concert with M. 
Boissy d'Anglas, who arrived on the 1 5th of April to supersede 
M. Arbaud, I made some changes in the civil authorities ; but 
quietly, and with the sole view of preventing internal dissensions 
between the governors and the governed. 1 endeavoured to hold 
the balance as evenly as possible between the two extremes, with- 
out feeling certain however that I had chosen for the best. Dur- 
ing my stay in this department, and in others that I visited subse- 
quently, I had not time to obtain information for my guidance ; 
I can therefore only claim the merit of good intentions. More- 
over, my work was not permanent enough to have been product- 
ive of much good or evil. 

I left La Rochelle for Rochefort on the 20th of August, thence 
I went to Saintes, and St. Jean d'Angely. I was not ill-received 
on my journey. The changes that I effected in the administra- 
tion were always in accordance with the principles I have just 
mentioned, and, generally speaking, met with approval. 

On my return I passed another day at La Rochelle, whence I 
directed my steps to the department of La Vendee. In order to 
reach the chief town, which had resumed its former name of Na- 
poleon, I crossed that part of it called La Plaine. All was per- 
fectly quiet, and the inhabitants displayed attachment to the princi- 
ples of the Revolution, which I had not expected in a department 

* After the second Restoration, Baron Arbaud was made Prefect of the 
Guard. His severity in the department, and his imprudent conduct, con- 
tributed in no small degree to the sanguinary disturbances that took place 
there in 1815. 



NANTES. 691 

famous for obstinate resistance 'to the Republican system, and 
for devotion to tlie family of our former kings. But the case was 
different in a part called Le Bocage, a wooded country difficult of 
access, and at that time greatly disturbed. 

I stayed two days at Napoleon. I saw the new Prefect, M. 
Boulle, who did not disguise from me that he was alarmed by the 
popular feeling in this part of his department. He considered it 
useless to dream of re-organising the National Guard ; he believed 
that if fresh battalions were formed, they would never consent to 
leave the department, and that if they remained in it, they would 
turn their arms against the very authority that had re-established 
them. I followed his advice, and confined myself to making a 
few changes in mayors and municipal officers. I refused, more- 
over, to listen to the numerous denunciations that were, of course, 
addressed to me, and if I could not provide for the future tran- 
quillity of the country, at least I did not disturb such as it enjoyed. 

I proceeded next to Nantes. On entering the town I found 
considerable crowds awaiting me, and I was received with shouts 
of " Vwe I Empereur.'' But I should have gravely erred had I 
taken this unexpected welcome for a sincere expression of the feel- 
ings of that great and important city. Not one of those I had as 
yet visited had shown more hostility. All the merchants, the 
magistrates, the rich landowners were strongly against the Em- 
peror. Women especially displayed great aversion and enmity to 
him ; they inspired all over whom they had any influence with the 
same. The shouts that had welcomed me proceeded only from 
the lowest classes of society, and the guilds of workmen and arti- 
sans. But these assemblies, which were openly encouraged by the 
agents of the Minister of Police, and to which I could not refuse 
my sanction, were more formidable to the upper classes, to whom 
they recalled the early days of the Revolution, than useful to the 
cause they had to defend. 

This state of things made my task difficult, and it was only by 
great exertion that I succeeded in creating a new municipality at 
Nantes, and inducing men of sufficient character to justify my 
choice, to accept public offices which I could not leave in the 
hands of declared enemies. The new Prefect, M. Bounaire, was 
without influence, and could not help me. Lastly, the promul- 
gation of the Additional Act to the Constitution of the Empire, 
which I received just then, added to the difficulties of my mission. 
That act fulfilled so ill the hopes that had been built on it, that it 
was unanimously rejected by all parties. The people had flattered 
themselves that the Emperor would convene a National Assembly, 
to discuss those alterations in the Constitution which past experi- 
ence had shown to be necessary. This was what the Emperor 



692 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

had promised in his proclamations and in his speeches ; it was the 
text which the Commissioners, sent into the departments, had 
amplified in order to regain the favour of the people. But, instead 
of fulfilling these promises, the Emperor alone, unassisted by any 
national representation, and without public debate, made, in 
some sort, a new Constitution. With a stroke of his pen, he con- 
firmed the provisions of a number of former Decrees which re- 
quired reform, and forbade their further examination. The new 
institutions announced by the Additional Act, although good in 
themselves, were incomplete. They did not affect the Communal 
system of 28 Pluviose, Year VIII. ; a system inherently vicious, 
and of which great complaints had been made. Finally, the con- 
cluding article (of no avail, for what law can fetter the future will 
of a nation ?) offended not only all the partisans of the Bourbons, 
but also those of that system of the Sovereignty of the People, 
which had been recognised by the very organs of the Government 
itself. Thus both extremes of public opinion were equally unfa- 
vourable. Thenceforth all action in the name of the Government 
became almost ineffective, and the slight influence I had been 
enabled to exert at Nantes was entirely effaced. Never had a 
political error more immediate effect, and I clearly foresaw 
that the elections by which a Chamber of Deputies was to be 
formed, would end in the return of members of the so-called pa- 
triotic opposition, and that the Emperor, instead of finding firm 
and faithful support in that new Chamber, would only find oppo- 
nents more or less imbued with the Republican maxims which 
they would have restored only that time had failed them. I wrote 
to Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, pointing out all the harm that 
his imprudent measure had done to the Emperor's cause ; but 
the evil was irreparable. 

I had how only to visit the Department of Deux-Sevres and that 
of Vienne, and had barely time to pass hastily through them. I 
had received orders to be back in Paris on the 5 th of May, and as 
it was physically impossible for me to get there at that date pre- 
cisely, I resolved at least not to exceed it by more than a few days. 

I reviewed the National Guard at Nantes, on the 2d of May. 
Although the weather was beautiful, there was not a woman 
present. The Guard took the oath to the Emperor en masse, but 
with a marked reluctance which I pretended not to perceive. I 
left Nantes the same evening for Niort, where I arrived on the 
3d, after again traversing all the Department of La Vendee, by 
way of Montaigu, Chatonnay and Fontenoy le Comte, where I 
halted for a few hours. 

The department of Deux-Sevres, of which Niort is the chief 
place, is situated in the neighbourhood of La Vendee. Its inhabi- 



POITIERS. 693 



tants had frequently taken part in the civil wars, but at the time of 
my visit it was still pretty quiet. I met with more civility there 
than I had expected, and was enabled to act without encountering 
much difficulty. M. Busch, the Prefect of the Department, a 
worthy and clever man, had made himself popular, and was of 
great use to me. The National Guard supplied battalions for the 
frontiers, and showed a readiness to defend the interior too ; but 
this state of tranquillity was soon disturbed. In proportion as the 
tendencies of the Congress of Vienna became better known, the 
emissaries of the Bourbons and of England reappeared in La Ven- 
dee, and the neighbouring departments, and renewed their intrigues. 
Serious disturbances soon broke out. I was not informed of them 
until after I had left Deux-Sevres, but as I had no means of re- 
storing order, I did not think it desirable to return to that depart- 
ment, although I was entreated to do so by the Prefect, and I 
confined myself to reporting the state of things to the Govern- 
m.ent, who thereupon despatched an army corps into the disturbed 
provinces under General Lamarque. * 

From Niort I proceeded to Poitiers, where I arrived on the 6th 
of May. I found the town in a state of ferment. The electors 
were assembling for the election of the Chamber of Deputies. 
The National Guard under General Demar9ay, who had re-organ- 
ised it, was full of ardour and energy. In a word the " patriots" 
had the upper hand. My reception showed signs of this ; crowds 
came out to meet me, and not, as at Nantes, the people only ; 
the highest classes of society hastened to take part in the fete. The 
streets were illuminated at night ; the next day the town invited 
me to a state banquet ; in fact, none of the demonstrations usual 
on occasions of the kind were omitted. I will even add that they 
were in great part sincere ; the conduct of the old nobility, and 
that of the clergy since the first Restoration, had alienated the peo- 
ple of the department from the Bourbon cause, and in their desire 
to escape a yoke of which they had felt the weight, they embraced 
the cause of the Emperor. The concurrence of these various cir- 
cumstances saved me from opposition ; I could not, however, 
overcome the ill-will of the clergy, who obstinately refused to pray 
for the Emperor. In an interview which I had with the Vicar- 
General on the subject, he defended himself by saying he was 
without orders from the Bishop of the Diocese. All he could do, 
he said, was to leave off praying for Louis XVIII. ; and he assured 
me that he had done so. '* But," added he, "I shall pray for 



* It is well known that in executing this difficult task General Lamarque 
proved himself an able commander and also a capable negotiator, and 
that he succeeded in pacifying that part of the country. 



694 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

no one else until ordered by my superiors. ' ' I had to content . 
myself with this compromise ; there was no more to be said. 

My mission was now ended, and, on the evening of the 9th, I ; 
began my return journey to Paris, filled with melancholy refiec- • 
tions. True it was that I left behind me — at least so I flattered ! 
myself — the recollection of no individual grievance, of no act of : 
violence or passion ; I had neither persecuted nor annoyed any 
man because his opinions were not the same as mine ; I had even 
shut my eyes to many political shortcomings, excusable under the 
difficulty of the circumstances. Nevertheless, I was far from ex 
periencing that interior satisfaction which public men derive from 
the conviction of having done good, and conduced, each in hi 
own sphere, to the welfare of his fellow citizens. Had I been of 
service to them, or had I misled them ? Had I contributed by| 
the appointments I had made, to their well-being, or the contrary .?. 
Time only could answer these questions, nor was it long before I 
knew that all my efforts had been, if not injurious, at least una- 
vailing. 

I reached Paris on the 1 2th of May, and the following day I 
waited on the Emperor, who was then residing at the Elysee. On 
presenting myself, I was told that he was engaged with the Duke 
of Dalmatia, whom he had just appointed Major-General of the 
army intended to act on the frontiers of the Netherlands, of which 
the Emperor was to take the chief command in person. I was not 
a little surprised to find this man restored to Napoleon's friend- 
ship, and honoured with so great a mark of his regard ; this same 
Marshal who, when Minister of War under the Royalist Govern- 
ment, had apparently used every effort to prevent the Emperor 
from marching on Paris, and to render his daring enterprise abor- 
tive. Such a return for Napoleon's favour might have led me to 
think that the opposition of the Minister of War was on the sur- 
face only ; but in that conjecture I should have been mistaken. 
Necessity alone had recalled the Marshal ; his military ability was 
the true cause of a reconciliation which seemed to me so strange at 
that time. 

On the conclusion of the Duke of Dalmatia' s audience, the 
Emperor sent for me, and kept me with him about a quarter of 
an hour. As this was my last interview with Napoleon, I will 
give the particulars of it. ' ' Well, ' ' he said, as soon as he saw 
me ; " well, have you made good selections ? Can I rely on the 
men you have appointed ?" "I have done my best, ' ' I answered, 
*' but I cannot answer for them to your Majesty. The time al- 
lowed me was altogether insufficient. I found new prefects who 
knew the country no better than myself. I avoided as far as pos- 
sible making choice of men of extreme views, and I excluded all 



THE EMPRESS. 695 



those who were notoriously such ; but I can answer for nothing. 
Besides, until either political treaties or victory have definitely pro- 
nounced for us, we cannot reckon on any real success. The re- 
turn of the Empress to Paris would do more at this moment than 
all the efforts of the Commissioners to the departments. " " You 
are right ; I don't yet altogether despair. I have sent to Vienna ; 
I have endeavoured to treat with Talleyrand ; he will listen to noth- 
ing ; he is sold to England. But," interrupting himself, "was 
the Due de Bourbon still in La Vendee when you got there ?" 
" I do not know," I replied, " and I made no inquiries. If he 
was there, it was better to give him an opportunity of getting away 
than to try to detain him. " " You are right, ' ' answered the Em- 
peror, ' ' it would have been a great difficulty. ' ' Then, after a 
moment's silence, he resumed. " What is the state of public feel- 
ing in those departments .?" " It is my duty to tell your Majesty 
the truth," I replied, *' and I will not attempt to disguise it. 
With the exception of some parts of La Vendee, where it was en- 
tirely against the Bourbons, and almost revolutionary, in other 
places, and especially among the higher classes, it is, if not hos- 
tile, at least cold and indifferent. As for the lower classes, they 
seem actuated rather by a return to Republican maxims than by 
any other sentiments ; and if they attach themselves to the name 
of your Majesty, it is because they take it as a guarantee of the 
liberties which they claim, and which you have promised to re- 
store. But I must not conceal that nearly everywhere, women are 
your declared enemies, and in France they are adversaries not to 
be despised. " " Oh, I know that, ' ' he exclaimed ; " I am told 
of it on all sides. I never admitted women into cabinet secrets ; I 
never suffered them to meddle with the Government ; and they 
are now avenging themselves. ' ' 

The conversation, during which, as his custom was, he had 
never ceased walking up and down, then dropped, and, after a 
silence of a few minutes, I was dismissed. 

I left the audience chamber with an unsatisfactory impression. 
The Emperor was no longer what I had seen him formerly. He 
was moody. The confidence that of old had manifested itself in 
his speech, the tone of command, the lofty ideas that directed his 
words and gestures, had disappeared ; he seemed already to feel 
the hand of adversity that was soon to weigh so heavily upon him ; 
he had already ceased to reckon on his destiny. 

Nor was there anything to reassure me in the state of Paris. 
Disgust, alarm, and discontent were predominant ; there was no 
appearance of attachment to the Government. As yet this oppo- 
sition evaporated in epigrams and pasquinades, and as the artisans 
of the populous quarters of St. Antoine and St. Marceau had 



696 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

formed themselves into companies, and even presented themselves 
for review at the Tuileries, there was no sedition to fear. Besides, 
to the very last moment, Napoleon was the King of the people of 
Paris, and the spell of his name over them has survived him who 
bore it. 

On my return from my mission, I found Lucien Bonaparte es- 
tablished in Paris, under the name of Prince Lucien. * On hear- 
ing of the Emperor's landing, and the succ'ess of an enterprise 
that had restored him to the throne, Lucien had hastened to leave 
Rome, and come to Paris with offers of service to the Emperor. 
The two brothers, who twelve years before had parted after a vio- 
lent quarrel, met again in Paris and were reconciled. Prince Lu- 
cien resided at the Palais-Royal. The other members of the fam- 
ily had also assembled ; Madame Mere, Prince Jerome, and Cardi- 
nal Fesch were at the Emperor's side, ready to share the good 
fortune of him whom they had deserted in his exile. Prince 
Louis alone held aloof, and did not re-appear on the shifting 
scene. 

Prince Lucien, whose superior abilities entitled him to play a 
leading part, and who did in fact exercise great influence over af- 
fairs, was both bolder and more determined than the others, and 
would have shrunk from no extremity in order to retain the su- 
preme authority in his family ; but we were no longer in Bru- 
maire. Year VIIL , and he was mistaken in supposing that the 
measures than resorted to could again command success. As, 
moreover, notwithstanding the reconciliation of the two brothers, 
a certain distrust still existed between Napoleon and Lucien, 
Prince Joseph was nominated President of Council in the Em- 
peror's absence, while Prince Lucien was to be present merely as 
a member like the Ministers. 

Such was the position at the end of May. Meanwhile events 
were hastening on, and an inevitable crisis, of which the issue was 
terribly uncertain, was fast approaching. Regnault de St. Jean 
d'Angely, whom I saw on the 23d of May, told me that news 
had arrived from Vienna some days before, and that it was ex- 
tremely bad. All hope of arrangement, or of political transaction 
must be given up. It was even rumoured that the dissolution of 
the Emperor's marriage with Marie Louise had been decided on. 
Although this was contradicted, there was no longer any hope that 
that Princess could or even would return to her husband, and that 
prospect, with which the nation had been soothed for awhile, van- 
ished utterly. Thus the battlefield became our only resource ; it 
was again to decide our fate, and we reflected with despair that if 

* Pope Pius VII. had conferred on him the title of Prince of Canino. 



I THE ONLY RESOURCE. 697 

we were beaten, the foreigner would rule in France^ while, if 
we conquered, we should once more fall under military govern- 
ment. 

The Emperor, who could see no chance of success excepting in 
war, had taken advantage of the slowness of his enemies to pre- 
pare for the campaign. The army was strengthened daily, new 
corps were formed, and old ones had their losses filled up. All 
was activity on the frontier ; the soldiers were in excellent spirits ; 
they longed for battle, for they knew that for them there was no 
salvation but in victory. With such feelings, the army, it was 
said, was invincible, though their numbers were only in the pro- 
portion of one to three of the enemy. But less confidence was felt 
in the oflficers than in the men. Certain reports had given rise to 
alarm, and the worst was that all uneasiness had to be concealed 
for fear of increasing the evil. All that could be done was to re- 
call certain generals on whom commands had been bestowed, and 
who were now under suspicion. General Alexandre Girardin was 
one of these ; but the sequel has shown that many others who 
were retained at their posts, should have been included in this 
precautionary measure. 

It is clear, therefore, that the Emperor, in setting out on this 
campaign, was no longer in the same position as formerly when he 
undertook his memorable wars. He was oppressed with cares of 
another kind, which deprived him of the prescient glance, and of 
the profound sagacity he had so many times displayed. There 
was something strained and uncertain in the situation, that was 
not of good augury for the future. 

Another circumstance arose to complicate the position. The 
Chamber of Deputies was elected, and the Government affected to 
be satisfied with the choice of members. But their satisfaction 
was not sincere ; there was no concealing that the majority of the 
members were imbued with all the prejudice and dislike that had 
been manifested in the departments against the Additional Act. It 
was to be feared, therefore, that the Chamber would declare itself 
against the new Charter, and would proceed to its overthrow in- 
stead of seconding the Government. Moreover, who was to curb 
it during the Emperor's absence ? And on his return must a sec- 
ond 1 8 Brumaire be enacted, in order to get rid of it ? Fouche, 
who had so greatly aided the first, was now more than doubtful, 
and only the fear of making a declared enemy of him induced the 
Emperor to retain him in his office of Minister of Police. 

There were, however, no means of temporising, nor of further 
adjourning the meeting of the Chambers. The Council of State 
even refused to act in place of the Legislature. In a sitting on 
the 23d of May, they had refused their adhesion to a decree pro- 



698 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

posed by the War Section calling out the conscription of 181 5, 
because levies ol recruits appertained to the Legislative Power. * 
In- their next sitting, therefore (May the 26th), the preliminaries 
for the opening of the two Chambers were brought forward, f and 
the date fixed for the 3d of June. But, before their meeting, it 
was not possible to avoid holding the famous ' ' Champ de Mai, ' ' 
as promised in the Emperor's first proclamation, and to which all 
the members of the Electoral Colleges, the deputies representing 
the Army and Navy, and those from all the National Guards of 
the Empire, were summoned. In fact, this assemblage, resuscitat- 
ed from our ancient annals, and originally designed to decree any 
necessary modifications to the Imperial Constitutions, had become, 
since the publication of the Additional Act, totally superfluous ; 
but it had been announced ; all those entitled to be present were 
in Paris ; curiosity hungered for the vain ceremonial and must 
needs be satisfied. 

It took place in the Champ de Mars, on the ist of June. I 
was present. A great concourse of people, deputies from all parts 
of France, magnificent troops, bishops, and numerous priests, an 
altar and a throne ; all these things afforded a gorgeous spectacle. 
But there was, in general, more curiosity than enthusiasm, and 
the festival was in no respect to be compared, as had been intend- 
ed, with the Federation of 1790. On that occasion the fete had 
been eminently national ; the feelings of both actors and spectators 
were exhibited without effort or intermission. In 18 15, short 
bursts of factitious enthusiasm occurred abruptly now and again, 
and the signal for applause was always given by the troops. The 
groups formed by the various state officials responded but feebly. 
I observed, however, that the University, at the head of which was 
M. Cuvier, who encouraged them by his example, were lavish in 
their shouts of " Vive I'Empereur !"J 

The state with which the Emperor had surrounded himself was 
not approved. The gold-embroidered garments which he had re- 

* They were raised under the Empire, by means of a Senatus Con- 
sultum, which by usurpation had the force of law. 

f The Additional Act had instituted an hereditary Chamber of Peers. 

X Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely assured me many times that he had 
exerted all his influence to obtain M, Cuvier's re-admission to the Coun- 
cil of State. M. Cuvier himself greatly wished it. But the Emperor was 
inflexible. He was equally so about the petitions of M. de Laplace and 
M. Berthollet, to be included in the Chamber of Peers, although Queen 
Julia, to whom he was much attached, had strongly interested herself on 
behalf of the former. Napoleon considered he had great cause of com- 
plaint against these three illustrious members of the University. He had, 
in fact, loaded them with favours, for which they had showii very little 
gratitude. 



THE CHAMP DE MAI. 699 

sumed, the tinsel on his courtiers' dress, were in too strong a con- 
trast with the plain attire of the electors, and were evidently out 
of harmony with the spirit of the fete. The white uniforms worn 
by the Emperor s three brothers, and which implied a prerogative 
unsanctioned by the nation — since, with the exception of Prince 
Joseph whose right of succession was recognized, the other princes 
(Lucien and Jerome) had not been called to heredity — produced 
an especially disagreeable and offensive effect. 

The speech delivered in the name of the electors, after Mass 
had been celebrated by the Archbishop of Bourges, was in great 
part the composition of Carrion-Nisas, a former member of the 
Tribunate. It was read, or rather theatrically declaimed, by M. 
Dubois, one of the deputies. The speech, which had been adopted 
on the preceding day by a majority of the Electors, under the 
presidency of Arch-chancellor Cambaceres, although occasionally 
very able, did not produce the effect that had been expected. On 
an attentive examination it was perceived that it did not touch on 
the special points on which the public would have wished it to be 
explicit, that is, on the relations to be established in future be- 
tween the Nation and its Chief Magistrate. No doubt, it was 
right to speak of the unjust aggression of foreign powers, and to 
say that every Frenchman should be ready to shed his blood in re- 
pelling that aggression, but there should also have been a' strong 
assurance that no return to the system of home government that 
had brought us so swiftly to destruction was intended. On this 
solemn occasion the Nation should have registered, in the presence 
of its representatives, the rights it had re-conquered, and which at 
that very moment it was beginning to exercise. The Chief should 
have been told that from that day the form of Government was 
changed, and France refused to be any longer the patrimony of a 
master. 

Such was the language we would have liked to hear, and not 
vain recriminations on the conduct of the Royalist Government, 
whose faults were sufficiently known. For we had to defend our- 
selves, not only against the return of the Bourbons and foreign 
invasion ; there were other dangers that past experience had taught 
us to dread, and now was the time to point them out. 

The Emperor's reply was as vague and commonplace as the 
speech addressed to him. In the midst of generalities there was 
only a word about the revision of the Constitution. This revision 
was to consist in a law intended to unite and co-ordinate all the 
scattered acts of the Constitution. Moreover it was full of the 
formulas ' ' my people, " * ' my capital, ' ' and others of like nature, 
jarring upon ears that had recovered their Republican susceptibil- 
ity. From these expressions of the Emperor it was concluded. 



yoo MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

that no change had been effected in his sentiments, and that the 
concessions he made were only yielded to necessity. 

Thus, the ceremonial, far from drawing the people towards the 
Emperor, only cooled them the more. The displeasure of the 
deputies and electors was evident. Their remarks were strongly 
imbued with a spirit of opposition, and they-did not care to con- 
ceal their feelings. In a word, the thing was an utter failure, and 
the assembly from which so much had been hoped, became before 
evening a subject of derision. Nevertheless, the ridicule cast upon 
it did not hinder the people of Paris from crowding as usual to 
the fete provided for them on the following Sunday, the 4th of 
June. 

If the Government could not congratulate themselves on the 
success of the Champ de -Mai, the spirit manifested by the Cham- 
ber of Representatives on their opening, two days later, was not 
calculated to console them. On its first sitting, the Chamber elected 
Count Lanjuinais as President It could not have made a more 
honourable choice, nor at the same time a more hostile one. Count 
Lanjuinais, as a Senator under the Empire, had always belonged 
to the small minority who opposed those usurpations of power to 
which the rest of the Senate so complacently agreed. His princi- 
ples were well known, and if he could not be reckoned among 
the strong partisans of Republican maxims, he was known to be 
the declared enemy of despotism. His upright and inflexible char- 
acter was not open to persuasion, still less to bribery. Notwith- 
standing the annoyance this selection must have caused the Em- 
peror, he gave it a cheerful approval. 

The Chamber of Peers had been nominated on the 2d of June, 
by a decree, which was not, however, inserted in the Moniteur un- 
til the 6th of June. It seemed to be so selected as to ensure a 
strong Government party, although the list of members was a cu- 
rious mixture of names from the Army, from the remains of the 
Senate, from the old nobility, and a few financiers. The men 
of science belonging to the former Senate were excluded, with the 
exception of Counts Chaptal and Monge. But as nearly all the 
newly created Peers were in the pay of the Government, there was 
apparently no danger of any serious opposition, nor in fact did any 
arise so long as the Emperor's power endured. But no sooner 
was it shaken than Napoleon learned that his Chamber of Peers, 
like his former Senate, was faithful only in prosperity. 

The two Chambers being thus organised, the solemn opening 
of the Session was appointed to take place on the 7th of June. 
The sitting was held in the hall of the Chamber of Deputies, and 
the Council of State having been summoned to attend, I was pres- 
ent on the occasion. The Emperor's throne had been erected on 



A PARTING. 701 



the spot usually occupied by the writing-table of the Chamber, 
and the President sat opposite, in the centre of a half-circle formed 
by the benches of the deputies. The peers occupied lower seats 
on the right of the throne, and the Council of State was on the 
left. 

The Emperor's speech, on the whole, was good, and gave 
much more satisfaction than that of the Champ de Mai. The ex- 
pressions which had offended on that occasion were not employed. 
Consequently he was received with applause that seemed genuine. 
A few shouts of "Vive I'Empereur" were even uttered, but in 
general the demeanour of the Assembly was grave and cold. 

After receiving addresses in reply to his speech, from both Cham- 
bers, the Emperor set out for the army on the 12th of June, at 3 
A.M. The Imperial Guard had left Paris on the 5th ; it included 
my son-in-law, General Jamin, my nephew, and my son. This 
separation, which for some was to be eternal, added family troubles 
to the pain that as a citizen and a public man I endured during 
those fatal days. 

Before leaving Paris, the Emperor had appointed a Governing 
Council, consisting of the Ministers, and presided over by Prince 
Joseph. It included Prince Lucien. Prince Jerome accompanied 
his brother to the army. 

The Council of State was to exercise its usual functions, and as 
Arch-chancellor Cambaceres was president of the Chamber of 
Peers, Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely was made president of the 
Council of State. 

The duties of my post and my desire to be within reach of 
news from the army, kept me in Paris, and I made short excur- 
sions only to my family in the country. I saw Prince Joseph fre- 
quently, and our former friendship, which, from the circumstances 
I have already related, had been somewhat shaken, was again re- 
newed. His house was the centre of the Government, and was 
never free from crowds, who, under pretext of attachment, en- 
deavoured to find out, by watching our countenances, what might 
be looked for, either of good or evil. 

The first accounts were favourable. On the morning of the i8th 
of June, a discharge of cannon announced the successful opening 
of the campaign,* and crowds more numerous than ever waited 
on Prince Joseph. 

But on the 20th, in the evening, the most disastrous rumours 
were spread abroad. I tried in vain to obtain particulars as to 
what had occurred. Prince Joseph had not as yet received any 
intelligence, and I returned home at eleven, full of distress and 
anxiety. 

* The engagement at Ligny under Fleury. 



702 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

The next morning there was no longer any room for doubt. 
We were beaten ; the flower of our army, the one only hope of 
the nation, had perished on the field of Waterloo, and although I 
did not yet know the full extent of my private misfortunes, all that 
I heard filled me with dismay. 

The Emperor had arrived during the night, and his sudden re- 
turn, causing consternation to all, deprived him of the last rem- 
nant of popularity. None could understand how he had deserted 
the army, in the face of such dangers, and the bitterest reproaches 
were uttered by all. 

I learned, in the course of the day, that there had been a meet- 
ing of Ministers at the Elysee Palace. Prince Joseph and Prince 
Lucien had been present. The Emperor offered to abdicate for a 
second time, and the proposition was discussed. I heard that the 
Duke of Otranto had been strongly in favour of accepting it, but 
that Prince Lucien had been as strongly against it. He had, on 
the contrary, urged the Emperor to get on horseback, and, at the 
head of his followers, to march on the Chambers, dissolve them, 
and declare himself dictator ; the only means, he said, of saving 
France, and his family. The Emperor had hesitated to take this 
extreme step ; his former energy seemed to have deserted him, 
and all the other members of the Council being of the same opin- 
ion as the Duke of Otranto, the abdication was resolved on, and 
immediately made known to the Chambers, who set up a Provis- 
ional Government. They had already declared themselves to be 
sitting in permanence, and at the commencement of that day's 
sitting, had secured their inviolability, protesting against any at- 
tempt that might be made against them. 

These are the only particulars that came to my knowledge at 
that time. But I learned, afterwards, that in the interval between 
the abdfcation and the Emperor's departure, Prince Lucien had 
again unsuccessfully urged the course he had advised at the Coun- 
cil. But he had been too ill-received in both Chambers, whither 
he had gone as Commissioner-Extraordinary from the Emperor, to 
inspire any great confidence. Times were changed, as I have al- 
ready pointed out, and although his plan offered some chances of 
success, it is more than probable that it would have failed. Look- 
ing at it, however, neither in the interests of morality nor in those 
of France, but as it regarded the Emperor's fame, this, no doubt, 
would have been the most glorious way of ending his career. 

It is worthy of remark that amid all the violent agitation pre- 
vailing during the whole of the 21st of June, in the Chambers and 
the Government Council, the inhabitants of Paris were far less ex- 
cited than might have been expected under circumstances so seri- 
ous. A complete calm reigned throughout the city, and was not 



THE PUBLIC. 703 



for one moment disturbed. Was this from courage or from in- 
difference ? Time has solved the question. Tossed from one 
government to another, the people had lost all regard either for the 
one they were losing, or for the other that was about to be re- 
stored to them. They slumbered, while waiting to hear at their 
awaking, whether they were to obey Napoleon II. or Louis 
XVIII. * 

I passed the 2 2d of June in Paris. In a state of overpowering 
mental agony, I sought in every direction for news from the army, 
in the hope of learning the fate of my daughter' s husband, my son 
and my nephew. All three, as I have said, belonged to the 
mounted Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, and their corps, I was 
told, had been almost entirely destroyed. 

At last, on the 23d of June, I received a letter from my 
nephew, telling me that General Jamin had been killed on the 
battlefield, and that my son had been struck by a ball in the right 
hip, and was seriously wounded. My nephew himself had been 
fortunate enough to escape all harm on that fatal day, and he 
was bringing home my son, on a litter he had had made for the 
journey. 

The duties imposed on me under these melancholy circum- 
stances absorbed all my thoughts. I went immediately to the 
country, to my wife and widowed daughter, who was expecting to 
become a mother, to offer them every consolation in my power. 
My son did not arrive until the 27th of June. He had been 
obliged to travel by circuitous routes, to avoid the enemy, who 
were already spreading on the roads leading to the capital. His 
wound was far more serious than had been thought at first. I 
should have liked to keep him in the country, where he would 
have been in better air, and would have been more quiet than in 
Paris ; but the danger was too great, and I was obliged to remove 
him with the rest of my family to my small apartment in Paris. 

I returned there myself two days beforehand. I had seen Prince 
Joseph several times, and had told him of my misfortunes. He 
sympathised in my grief, and was touched with regret at the death 
of his former aide-de-camp, who had so bravely defended him at 
Vittoria ; but the crisis in his own affairs naturally absorbed all 
his thoughts, and I shrank from diverting his attention from them. 

I had left him on the 27th of June, and had gone the next 
morning to the country, to complete some domestic arrange- 
ments. I had barely arrived there when I received a note from 
M. Presle, Joseph's private secretary, begging me in the most 
pressing terms to wait upon the Prince immediately. The note 

* Napoleon had abdicated on condition that his son should succeed him. 



704 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

was addressed to me in Paris, from whence it had been forwarded i ! 
to me. I started at once, and I reached Prince Joseph's palace ; 
at about noon ; but he was not there ; I only saw his wife. She j 
told me that her husband had set out that very morning ; that he j 
had wished me to accompany him, and would have proposed my ! 
doing so had I arrived in time. She added, however, that she had j 
been doubtful whether, under the melancholy circumstances in j 
my own family, I could have accepted his offer, but that her hus- « 
band had been determined on making it, because he knew of no \ 
other friend sufficiently devoted to follow him in his self-imposed j 
exile. She did not however tell me the place he had chosen for I 
his future abode, nor did I question her on the subject* She 
also informed me that the Emperor was at Malmaison ; that he 
was to leave that place on the same day, or, at latest, on the next, 
the 29th, for Rochefort, where the Minister of the Navy had two 
frigates in readiness to escort him to America. She added that 
the Emperor's mother. Prince Lucien, Prince Jerome and Cardi- 
nal Fesch had left Paris for either Switzerland or Italy, and that she 
herself, with her two daughters, was about to reside with her sister 
the Princess of Sweden, in a country house belonging to the latter 
at Auteuil, where under the protection of Sweden, she would be 
safe from any kind of pursuit or ill treatment. 

Thus did a family, who for fifteen years had dazzled Europe 
with their splendour, and made themselves a mark for envy, utter- 
ly disappear from the scene. At the end of the conversation just 
recorded, I felt like a man awaking from a long dream, and -who 
at first can hardly believe in the reality of the objects he sees 
about him. Although I ought, for some days past, to have ex- 
pected such an ending, I was as much surprised as if it had been 
unforeseen. My thoughts were confused and uncertain. The 
scene at Blois, when we heard of the first abdication of the Em- 
peror, had greatly impressed me. That fall was great, but not in- 
glorious. The victors respected the great man they had over- 
thrown, and seemed, as it were, astounded at their own victory. 
They even gave him a place in their own ranks, by retaining for 
him his title of Emperor. But now, there was nought remaining ; 
power, grandeur, even the name which perpetuated the recollection 
of these, and was a consolation for their loss ; all, all had perished, 
and perished irretrievably ! 

At the close of this painful interview I returned to the country, 
to conduct my family to Paris, and on the 29th of June we were 
settled there. 

* I learned, a few months afterwards, by a letter from Joseph himself, 
that he had decided on the United States, and had safely arrived there. 



VANISHED. 705 



In consequence of these circumstances, I retired into private life, 
and as I had no_ communication with those who at that time were 
deciding the destinies of France, I can give no particulars of the 
events that took place from the time of my return to the capital 
until the 26th of July, when I removed to the country, there to 
live in complete seclusion. 

During our absence, our house and premises had been occu- 
pied first by General Vandamme's division, and afterwards by va- 
rious corps belonging to the enemy, who had come there in suc- 
cession, and had done much damage. Lastly, a detachment of 
fifty soldiers belonging to the Russian infantry was quartered there 
under command of an officer. I had however no complaints to 
make of the conduct of these troops. The Emperor Alexander 
had, at my daughter's request, sent us two Cossacks belonging 
to his guard, who protected us from any excesses. He even came 
himself, as a Russian officer merely, to make sure that his benev- 
olent intentions had been duly carried out. During his visit we 
were not aware of his rank, and it was only after he had taken 
leave of us, that the two Cossacks, who had recognized him, but 
had kept his sgcret until then, told us that the officer was their Em- 
peror. 

Notwithstanding this generous protection, of which I shall al- 
ways retain a grateful recollection, the inevitable and legitimate 
expenses imposed on us by the four months' sojourn of the troops 
in our household — expenses that were far beyond our means — the 
requisitions of forage and provisions, which we also had to furnish, 
as our share of the general tax levied on the department for the 
support of the enemy's troops ; these expenses, I repeat, quite 
exceeded our means, and threw our very moderate fortune into a 
disorder from which we have never been able to extricate it. 

The loss of fortune, however, was not the greatest misfortune I 
had to dread. My son's wound, which medical men had at first 
thought serious, but not fatal, assumed day by day a more dan- 
gerous aspect. The ileum, which they thought had not been 
touched, had been injured, gangrene set in, and after Imgering 
for nearly six months, and in spite of the care and attention lav- 
ished on him, he breathed his last on the 5th of December, 181 5. 
He had not completed his twentieth year when he received his 
death- wound on the field of Waterloo. 

I will not attempt to describe his mother's grief or mine. This 
dreadful loss embittered the latter years of our lives ; but he died 
fighting against the invader and for the independence of his coun- 
try. His was a glorious death, and this is my only remaining 
consolation. 

After the death of my son-in-law and my son, our reverse of 



\ 

706 MEMOIRS OF COUNT MIOT DE MELITO. 

fortune * no longer permitted us to retain the country house 
to which we had retired in 18 14, and we succeeded in selling 
it towards the end of 181 7. 

There were then two courses open to me. The one was 
to live in the remote country, which we could have accom- 
plished more easily on the means remaining to us: the other 
to come to Paris, and encounter severer privations in con- 
sequence of the high price of provisions and of house rent, 
but with the hope of greater liberty by way of compensa- 
tion. In the then state of France, I was afraid of life in a 
province, where I should have been a more or less suspected 
personage, and vigilantly watched by the mayor, the cure, 
the officer of gendarmerie, and the sub-prefect. In Paris, 
I should be independent. There were so many persons 
there to attract the attention of the police, before they ] 
reached me in my obscurity, that I had nothing to fear, 
since it was my intention to deepen that obscurity if pos- 
sible, rather than to emerge from it. These considerations 
prevailed and I established myself and my family in the 
capital, in the month of April, 18 18. Being now neither an 
elector nor eligible, I lived there entirely apart from pub- 
lic affairs, weary of the civil strife of my country, and oc- 
cupied exclusively with those literary labors which in 1835 
obtained for me the honor of being made a member of the 
Institute. 

* My pension as former Councillor of State had been withdrawn in 1815. 
It was restored to me in 18 18, through the influence of Baron Pasquier, who 
obtained this act of justice, by such efforts and such zeal as might be ex- 
pected from a former colleague. 






EDITOR'S NOTE. 



The reader will remember the circumstance of the passport sent by Count 
Miot to King Joseph in the April of 1814, one of the conditions of which 
had deeply offended the King, and had greatly impaired the friendship that 
had existed for many years between those two personages. It would seem, 
however, that by the end of the Hundred Days, the cloud had partly cleared 
away, since Prince Joseph, when he set out for America, in June, 1815, had 
intended asking M. de Melito to join his exile. Time and reflection probably 
caused the Count de Survilliers to perceive still more clearly how great had 
been his injustice in visiting on M. de Melito, a restriction placed by the 
Provisional Government of 1814 on the delivery of a passport to Napoleon's 
brother. For it is a fact that a few months after his arrival in the United 
States, M. de Survilliers wrote a friendly letter to Count Miot, and that a 
regular correspondence was established thenceforth between them, and their 
former intimacy was renewed. 

Count de Survilliers frequently expressed a desire to see his friend, and at 
the beginning of 1825, M. de Melito received a letter in which he was urged 
so strongly to visit the Count in his chosen retreat, and the invitation made to 
him was accompanied by such friendly and affectionate expressions, that Count 
Miot could not resist them. He resolved on going to the United States, and 
embarked at Havre on the ist of July, 1825, onboard the American vessel 
Cadmus, After a rough voyage, he reached New York on the 9th of August, 
and was met immediately on landing by the Count de Survilliers, with whom 
he remained until the 15th of May, 1826, when he embarked on his return to 
Europe, 

According to his custom, Count Miot made notes of all he saw or heard 
worthy of remark in the course of his travels through several of the States, 
either alone or in company with M. de Survilliers. But since that tiine so 
many excellent works have been published on America ; and the institutions, 
the political government of the United States, and even the manners of the 
inhabitants have so greatly changed, that what was novel and accurate in 
1825, might appear at the present time antiquated and incorrect. These 
considerations prevent us from publishing that part of Count Miot's journal 
which relates to his visit to America, and we limit ourselves to transcribing 
what he learned from Count de Survilliers concerning his departure from 
France, and his settlement in the United States. Wcshall thus complete the 
history of that prince whose life and policy occupy so large a place in these 
Memoirs. 

On leaving Paris at the end of June, 181 5, Prince Joseph had turned his 
steps toward Rochefort, intending to join tlie Emperor, for whom two frig- 
ates were being got ready in that port. But, having learned that an English 



7o8 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 



ship was cruising about, and that it would be impossible to escape it, he re- 
solved on chartering an American vessel that was being laden with brandy in 
the Charente. By purchasing the cargo, not yet complete, from the Captain, 
and also paying him a heavy indemnity for the remainder of his profits, he in- 
duced him to set sail at once. After having vainly pi-oposed to his brother 
to take this opportunity of eluding his enemies, he embarked, passed unmo- 
lested through the midst of the English squadron,' and after a passage of a 
month and some days at last reached New York. He at first took up his 
abode in that city where he was taken for General Carnot ; but when it be- 
came known who he really was, the welcome afforded him by all the most dis- 
tinguished men in New York, gave him no cause to regret the loss of his in- 
cognito. The interest he excited, the regard which he won by his misfortunes, 
his philosophic fortitude, his attractive manners and his noble simplicity, 
soon caused the hospitable land of his retreat to seem to him like a second 
home. How much more fortunate was he in his choice than his brother, 
who had imprudently trusted himself to a nation which became a gaoler to 
the hero who had confided in its generosity! 

Having decided on establishing himself altogether in the United States, 
Joseph Bonaparte, under the name of Count de Survilliers, sent to France 
for his money, his library and his pictures. He then left the city, his tastes 
inclining him to a country life, and after residing for some time at a house at 
Manhattan on the left bank of the Hudson, in the State of New York, he 
finally purchased the estate of Breezy Point in New Jersey. He occupied 
himself in improving this property, making it his principal care. The works 
he undertook, and had carried out by the numerous laborers in his employ- 
ment, diffused prosperity around and especially in the village of Bordentown ; 
and far from restricting himself to the embellishment of his own property 
only, he acted generously towards the country itself; contributing to the im- 
provement of the roads, by levelling heights, and constructing several bridges 
at his own cost. 

The Government of the States had acknowledged the services and the 
worth of their illustrious guest by various marks of distinction. The Count 
de Survilliers, notwithstanding the situation in which circumstances had 
placed him, and the independence he had thus acquired, had never consented 
to give up the title of a French citizen, and become naturalized in one of 
the States, and consequently he could hold no funded property. But the 
Legislature of New York State relieved him by a formal Act from this inca- 
pacity, and conferred on him all the rights of an American citizen without 
obliging him to assume the name. By means of this special enactment, he 
acquired vast estates in the North, on the banks of the Black River, and be- 
came also one of the largest landholders in the State of New Yoi-k. 

Such was the position of Count de Survilliers, when Count Miot de Melito 
joined him in August, 1825. He enjoyed it, and yet was not perfectly hap- 
py. Certain recollections, hopes, and illusions, would at times arise before 
his mind to disturb its serenity. A longing to see Europe once more had 
not completely died out. Nevertheless, when Count Miot informed him of 
the negotiations which the Duke de Montmorency had set on foot with the 
Austrian and Russian Ministers, of which the result had been that those 
Powers would never consent to his residing in Italy, he seemed to give up 
the intention of returning to Europe, and his subsequent refusal of the offer 
of the Low Countries as a place of residence would seem to show that his 
renunciation was sincere. Moreover, had he not wished for Italy in particu- 
lar, he might long before have taken up his abode elsewhere in Europe. 
His brother-in-law, the King of Sweden, and the Emperor Alexander, who 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 709 



had shown unabated interest in him, had offered him hospitality, but the 
climate, whose seyerity he dreaded, caused him to decline it. 

In their conversations, Count Miot endeavored to confirm him in his reso- 
lution not to leave America, but the sequel has shown that he did not alto- 
gether succeed. Everybody knows how greatly the events of July, 1830, 
agitated the Count de Survilliers in his retreat, and that he made efforts to 
maintain the rights of the Napoleon family to the Throne of France, efforts 
that must needs be fruitless at that period. After crossing the Atlantic sev- 
eral times, he finally returned to Europe, and after several apoplectic attacks 
had reduced him to a deplorable condition of mind and body, he obtained 
permission to join his wife at Florence, where he died in 1844. 



APPENDIX. 



Note I, Page 311. 

The * Lady-in-waiting' to whom the author alludes, was Madame de Remu- 
sat. In her Memoirs she gives the following account of the conduct of the 
wife of the First Consul in the matter of the execution of the Due d'En- 
ghien : 

** Madame Bonaparte informed me that we were to pass that week at Mal- 
maison. ' I am very glad,' she added ; * Paris frightens me just now.' Shortly 
afterwards we set out ; Bonaparte was in his own carriage. Madame Bona- 
parte and myself were in hers. I observed that she was silent and sad for a 
part of the way, and I let her see that I was uneasy about her. At first she 
seemed reluctant to give me any explanation, but at length she said, ' I am 
going to trust you with a great secret. This morning Bonaparte told me that 
he had sent M. de Canlaincourt to the frontier to seize the Due d'Enghien. 
He is to be brought bacic here.' 'Ah, Madame,' I exclaimed, 'what are 
they going to do with him? ' ' I believe,' she answered, ' he will have him 
tried.' I do not think I have ever in my life experienced such a thrill of ter- 
ror as that which her words sent through me. Madame Bonaparte thought I 
was going to faint, and let down all the glasses. ' I have done what I could,' 
she went on, ' to induce him to promise me that the prince's life shall not be 
taken, but I am greatly afraid his mind is made up.' ' What, do you really 
think he will have him put to death ? ' 'I fear so.' At these words I burst 
into tears, and then, so soon as I could master my emotion sufficiently to speak, 
I urged upon her the fatal consequences of such a deed, the indelible stain of 
such vain bloodshed which would satisfy the Jacobin party only, the strong 
interest with which the prince inspired all the other parties, the great name 
of Conde, the general horror, the bitter animosity which would be aroused, 
and many other considerations. I argued every side of the question, of which 
Madame Bonaparte contemplated one only. The idea of a murder was that 
which had struck her most strongly; but I succeeded in seriously alarming 
her, and she promised that she would endeavor by every means in her power 
to induce Bonaparte to relinquish his fatal purpose." 

** That night when I was leaving Madame Bonaparte, she again promised 
tne that she would renew her entreaties. 

I joined her as early as I could on the following morning, and found her 
quite in despair, Bonaparte had repelled her at every point. He had told 
her that women had no concern with such matters ; that his policy required 
this coup d''etat ; that by it he should acquire the right to exercise clemency 
hereafter ; that in fact, he was forced to choose between a decisive act and a 



APPENDIX. 71 r 



long series of conspiracies which he would have to punish in detail ; as impu- 
nity would have encouraged the various parties. He should have to go on 
prosecuting, exiling, condemning without end ; to revoke his measures of 
mercy toward the emigres ; to place himself in the hands of the Jacobins, 
. . . During their interview, Madame Bonaparte informed her husband, 
that he was about to aggravate the heinousness of the deed by the selection 
of M. de Canlaincourt, whose parents had formerly been in the household of 
the Prince de Conde, as the person who was to arrest the Due d'Enghien." 

* 4c *"* * * * * 

** My profound emotion distressed Madame Bonaparte. She had great 
faith in all Bonaparte's views, and owing to her natural levity and fickleness, 
she excessively disliked painful or lasting impressions. Her feelings were 
quick but extraordinarily evanescent. Being convinced that the death of 
the Due d'Enghien was inevitable, she wanted to get rid of an unavailing re- 
gret ; but I would not allow her to do so. I importuned her all day long 
without ceasing. She listened to me with extreme gentleness and kindness, 
but in utter dejection; she knew Bonaparte better than I. I wept while 
talking to her ; I implored her not to allow herself to be put down, and, as 
I was not without influence over her, I succeeded in inducing her to make a 
last attempt," 

* 4c4c9ic4e:ie9l<4: 

" On the Tuesday morning, Madame Bonaparte said to me, ' All is useless ; 
the Due d'Enghien arrives this evening. He will be taken to Vincennes 
and tried to-night. Murat has undertaken the whole. He is odious in this 
matter ; it is he who is urging Bonaparte on, by telling him that his clem- 
ency will be taken for weakness, that the Jacobins will be furious, and one 
party is now displeased because the former fame of Moreau has not been 
taken into consideration, and will ask why a Bourbon should be differently 
treated. Bonaparte has foi'bidden me to speak to him again on the subject. 
He asked me about you,' she added, ' and I acknowledged that I had told 
you everything. He had perceived your distress. Pray try to control your- 
self.'" 

Extract f 7- oni a Note by M. Paul de Rhnusat. 

"The 'Memorial de S'^ Helene' denies, however, that Bonaparte had to 
refuse any entreaties for clemency. The imaginary scene in which Josephine 
begs on her knees for the life of the Due d'Enghien, and, clinging to the 
coat of Napoleon, is dragged along the ground by her inexorable husband, 
is one of those melodramatic inventions with which the fiction-writers of the 
present day compose their veracious histories. On the evening of the 19th 
of March, Josephine was in ignorance that the Due d'Enghien was to be 
tried ; she only knew that he had been arrested. She had promised Madame 
de Remusat to interest herself in his fate," 

Note 2, Despatch from Lord Wellington respecting the Battle of the 

Arapiles. 

"Flores de Avila, 24th July, 18 12, 

"To Earl Bathurst: 

" My aide-de-camp. Captain Lord Clinton, will present to your Lordship 
this account of a victory which the allied troops under my command gained 
in a general action, fought near Salamanca on the evening of the 22nd inst., 
which I have been under the necessity of delaying to send till now, having 
been engaged ever since the action in the pursuit of the enemy's flying troops. 



712 APPENDIX. 



*'In my letter of the 2ist, I informed your Lordship that both armies 
were near the Tcrmes; and the enemy crossed that river with the greatest 
part'of his troops, in the afternoon, by the fords between the Alba de Tormes 
and Huerta, and moved by their left towards the roads leading to Ciudad- 
Rodrigo. 

" The allied army, with the exception of the 3rd division, and General 
D'Urban's cavalry, likewise crossed the Tormes in'the evening by the bridge 
of Salamanca and the fords in the neighborhood ; and I placed the troops in 
a position, of which the right was upon one of the two heights called Dos 
Arapiles, and the left on the Tormes, below the ford of S'^ Marta. 

"The 3rd division, and Brigadier-General D'Urban's cavalry were left at 
Cabrerizos, on the right of the Tormes, as the enemy had still a large corps 
on the heights above Babilafuente, on the same side of the river; and I con- 
sidered it not improbable that, finding our army prepared for them in the 
morning on the left of the Tormes, they would alter their plan and manoeuvre 
by the other bank. 

"In the course of the night of the 21st, I received intelligence, of the 
truth of which I could not doubt, that General Clausel had arrived at Polios 
on the 20th with the cavalry and horse artillery of the Army of the Worth to 
join Marshal Marmont, and I was quite certain that these troops would join 
him on the 22nd or 23rd at latest. 

*' There was no time to be lost therefore ; and I determined that, if cir- 
cumstances should not permit me to attack him on the 22nd, I Mould move 
towards Ciudad-Rodrigo without further loss of time, as the difference of the 
numbers of the cavalry might have made a march of manoeuvre, such as we 
have had for the last four or five days, very difficult, and its result doubtful, 

"During the night of the 21st, the enemy had taken possession of the 
village of Calvarassa de Arriba, and of the heights near it tailed N. S. de la 
Peiia, our calvary being in possession of Calvarassa de Abaxo ; and shortly 
after daylight, detachments from both armies attempted to obtain possession 
of the more distant from our right of the two hills called Dos Arapiles. The 
enemy, however, succeeded ; their detachments being the strongest, and 
having been concealed in the woods nearer the hill than we were ; by which 
success they strengthened materially their own position, and had in their 
power increased means of annoying ours. 

"In the morning the light troops of the 7th division, and the 4th ca9a- 
dores belonging to General Sack's brigade, were engaged with the enemy on 
the height called N. S. de la Pena, on which height they maintained them- 
selves with the enemy throughout the day. The possession by the enemy, 
however, of the more distant of the Arapiles rendered it necessary for me to 
extend the right of the army en potence to the height behind the village of 
Arapiles, and to occupy that village with the light infantry ; and here I placed 
the 4th division, under the command of Lieut. -General the Hon. L. Cole; 
and although, from the variety of the enemy's movements, it was difficult to 
form a satisfactory judgment of his intentions, I considered that upon the 
whole his objects were upon the left of the Tormes. I therefore ordered 
Major-General the Hon, E. Pakenham, who commanded the 3d division in 
the absence of Lieut. -General Picton, on account of ill health, to move across 
the Tormes with the troops under his command, including Brig, -General 
D'Urban's cavalry and to place himself behind Aldea Tejada ; Brig. -General 
Bradford's brigade of Portuguese infantry, and Don Carlos de Espana's 
infantry having been moved up likewise to the neighborhood of Las Torres, 
between the 3d and 4th divisions. 

*' After a variety of evolutions and movements, the enemy appears to have 



APPENDIX. 713 



determined upon his plan about two in the afternoon ; and under cover of a 
very heavy cannonade, w^hich, hov^^ever, did us but very little damage, he ex- 
tended his left, and moved forward his troops, apparently with an intention 
to embrace, by the position of his troops, and by his fire, our post on that of 
the two Arapiles which we possessed, and from thence to attack and break 
our line, or, at all events to render difficult any movement of ours to our 

"The extension of his line to his left, however, and its advance upon our 
rijrht, notwithstanding that his troops still occupied very strong ground, and 
his position was well defended by cannon, gave me an opportunity of attack- 
ing him, for which I had long been anxious. I reinforced our right with the 
5th division, under Lieut. -General Leith, which I placed behind the village of 
Arapiles, on the right of the 4th division, and with the 6th and 7th in re- 
serve ; and as soon as these troops had taken their station, I ordered Major- 
General the Hon. E. Pakenham to move forward with the 3d division and 
General D'Urban's cavalry, and two squadrons of the 14th light di^agoons, 
under Lieut. -Colonel Hervey, in four columns, to turn the enemy's left on 
the heights; while Brig. -General Bradford's brigade, the 5th division, under 
Lieut. -General Leith, the 4th division, under Lieut. -General the Hon. L. 
Cole, and the cavalry, under Lieut. -General Sir S. Cotton, shoiild attack 
them in front, supported in resei-ve by the 6th division, under Major-General 
Clinton, the 7th, under Major-General Hope, and Don Carlos de Espana's 
Spanish division ; and Brig. -General Pack should support the left of the 4th 
division, by attacking that of the Dos Arapiles which the enemy held. The 
1st and light divisions occupied the ground on the left, and were in reserve. 

''The attack upon the enemy's left was made in the manner above de- 
scribed and completely succeeded. 



** After the crest of the height was reached, one division of the enemy's 
infantry made a stand against the 4th division, which, after a severe contest, 
was obliged to give way, in consequence of the enemy having thrown some 
troops on the left of the 4th division, after the failure of Brig.-General Pack's 
attack upon the Arapiles, and Lieut. -Colonel the Hon, L. Cole having been 
wounded. Marshal Sir W. Beresford, who happened to be on the spot, di- 
rected Brig.-General Spring's brigade of the 5th division, which was in the 
second line, to change its front, awd to bring its fire on the flank of the ene- 
my's division ; and, I am sorry to add that, while engaged in this service he 
received a wound which I am apprehensive will deprive me of the benefit of 
his counsel and assistance for some time. Nearly about the same time Lieut. - 
General Leith received a wound which unfortunately obliged him to quit the 
field. I ordered up the 6th division, under Major-General Clinton, to relieve 
the 4th, and the battle was soon restored to its former success. 

** The enemy's right, however, reinforced by the troops which had fled 
from his left, and by those which had now retired from the Arapiles, still con- 
tinued to resist ; and I ordered the first and light divisions, and Colonel Stubbs' 
Portuguese brigade of the 4th division, which was reformed, and Major- 
General W. Anson's brigade, likewise of the 4th division, to turn the right, 
while the 6th division, supported by the 3d and the 5th, attacked the front. 
It was dark before this point was carried by the 6th division ; and the enemy 
fied through the woods toward the Tormes. I pursued them with the ist 
and light divisions, and Major-General W. Anson's brigade of the 4th divi- 
sion, and some squadrons of cavalry under Lieut. -General Sir S. Cotton, as 
long as we could find any of them together, directing our march upon Huerta 



7^4 APPENDIX. 



and the fords of the Tormes, by which the enemy had passed on their ad- 
vance ; but the darkness of the night was highly advantageous to the enemy, 
many of whom escaped under its cover who must otherwise have been in our 
hands. I am sorry to report that, owing to the same cause, Lieut. -General 
Sir S. Cotton was unfortunately wounded by one of our own sentries after 
we had halted. 

•'We renewed the pursuit at the break of day In the morning with the 
same troops, and Major-General Bock's and Major-General Anson's brigades 
of cavalry, which joined during the night ; and having crossed the Tormes, 
we came up with the enemy's rear of cavalry and infantry near La Serna. 
They were immediately attacked by the two brigades of dragoons, and the 
cavalry fled, leaving the infantry to their fate. I have never witnessed a 
more gallant charge than was made on the enemy's infantry by the heavy 
brigade of the King's German Legion, under Major-General Bock, which was 
completely successful ; and the whole body of infantry, consisting of three 
battalions of the enemy's ist division, were made prisoners. The pursuit was 
afterward continued as far as Senaranda last night, and our troops were still 
following the flying enemy. Their headquarters were in this town, not less 
than ten leagues from the field of battle, for a few hours last night ; and they 
are now considerably advanced on the road towards Valladolid, by Arevalo. 
They were joined yesterday on their retreat by the cavalry and artillery of 
the army of the North, which have arrived at too late a period, it is to be 
hoped, to be of much use to them. 

"It is impossible to form a conjecture of the amount of the enemy's loss 
in this action ; but, from all reports, it is very considerable. We have taken 
from them 1 1 pieces of cannon, several ammunition wagons, 2 eagles, and 6 
colors; and i general, 3 colonels, 130 officers of inferior rank, and between 
6000 and 7000 soldiers and prisoners ; and our detachment are sending in 
more at every moment. The number of dead on the field is very large. 

* I am informed that Marshal Marmont is badly wounded and has lost one 
of his arms ; and that four General Officers have been killed and several 
wounded. Such an advantage could not have been acquired without material 
loss on our side, but it certainly has not been of a magnitude to distress the 
army or to cripple its operations. 

" Captain Lord Clinton will have the honour of laying at the feet of H.R. 
H. the Prim;e Regent the eagles and colors taken from the enemy in this 
action." 

"Flores de Avila, 24th July, 1812. 

** To Earl Bathurst. 

*' I hope that you will be pleased with our battle, of which the dispatch 
contains as accurate an account as I can give you. There was no mistake ; 
everything went on as it ought, and there never was an army so beaten in so 
short a time. If we had had another hour or two of daylight, not a man 
would have passed the Tormes ; and as it was, they would all have been taktn 

if had left the garrison in Alba de Tormes as I wished and desired ; or" 

having taken it away, as I believe, before he was aware of my wishes, he had 
informed me that it was not there. If he had, I should have marched in the 
night upon Alba, where I should have caught them all, instead of upon the 
fords of the Tormes. But this is a little misfortune, which does not diminish 
the honour acquired by the troops in the action, nor, I hope, the advantage to 
be derived from it by the country ; as I do not believe there are many sol- 
diers who were in the action, who are likely to face us again till they shall 
be very largely reinforced indeed." ♦ * * * ♦ 



INDEX. 



ABENCERRAGES, 534 
Aboukir, 274 
Abrantes, 653 
Abruzzi, 420 
Acenipo, 527 
Achetci^ola, 633 
Adet. 168 

Adrian, Emperor of Rome, 519, 530 
Africa, 438 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 329 
Ajaccio (Corsica), 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 220, 

22^, 227, 228, 234, 2S6, 237, 240-242, 244, 

245 
Alassio, 37 

Alava, Don Michael. 442, 443 
Albacete, 603, 604, 639 
Alba de Sormes, 5U0, 614 
Alba, Duchess of, 474 
Albnfera, Duke of, 607 
Albuquerque, Duke of, 513, 514, 520, 523, 

524 
Alcala da Henarez, 549, 550 
Alcala de Guadaira, 513, 515 
Alcazar, 504, 512 
Alentejo, 587 
Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 269, 320, 380, 

424, 425, 428. 439, 454, 571, 572, 671, 678, 

680 
Alexander (painter), 534 
Alexandria, 273 
Alfieri, 43 
Alfonso VIII., 506 
Alhambra, 531, 532, 533, 535 
Alicante, 605 

Alkmaer. 140, 141. 142, 145 
AUee, Blanche, 121. 122 
Allier, Prefect of, 635 
Allioni, 120 

Almaden del Az^gue, 505, 507 
Almagra, 505, 507 
Alraanza, 604 
Almoida 551, 559 
Alnienara. Marquis of. 545 546 
Almonacid, 78,492, 496. 604 516 
Amato. 409 
America, 503 
American Colonies 663 
^'"iens, 235, 251, 260, 262, 265, 268, 270, 272, 

2 1 4, 27 (, o71 
Amoroz. 592 

Amsterdam, 138, 139, 140, 142, 645 
Ancona, 431 
Andalusia, 444, 445. 449. 485. 499. 501. ,504 

506, 507. 512, 514, 517, 520. 522. 525. 536, 

538, 540, 542, 544, 558, 559. 581. 589, 590, 

592, 595, 600, 603, 606, 609, 612, 620 



And aye, 281 

Andrein, Bishop of Morbihan, 201, 202, j:05 

Andr6ossy, General, French Ambassador in 
London, 270, 277, 279 

Andrieux, 671 

Andujar, 449, 450, 507, 508, 536, 540, 511 

Anquetil-Duperron, 342 

Ante quera, 529, 5c;0 

Antwerp, 139, 376, 378, 571, 667 

Aosta, 121, 122, 123, 124 

Arando, 461 

Araniuez, 457, 462, 464, 400, 472, 474, 489, 
492, 499, 601, 611, 612, 620 

Arcambal, 19, 399 

Areola, engagement at, 73 

Arcos de la Frontera, 526 

Ardizabal, Don Miguel, 523 

Aremberg, 356 

Arena, Joseph, 59, 191, 213, 217 

Arena (the elder), 59 

Arevalo, 595, 596, 597, 611, 613, 616 

Arezzo, 71 

Arganda, 474 

Ariscon, 632 

Arizaga, Gen., 499, 527 

Arlanza, 622 

Arragon, 457, 482. 484, 501, 504, 539, 543, 
544, 557, 574, 580, 581, 586, 592, 603, 6J4, 
625, 639 

Arras, Bishop of, 273 

Arzobispo, 516 

Asanza, see Santa Fe, Duke of 

Asinara, Island of, 239 

Assisi, 71 

Astorza, 444, 470, 487 

Asturias, Prince of the, 424, 440; province 
of, 487, 544, 557 

Augereau, Marsha!, 10.5, 110, 133, 457 

Augusta, Princess, daughter of the King of 
Bavaria, 393 

Augustus, 509, 510 

Austerlitz, 390, 456, 464, 688 

Austria, 36. 41, 45, 48. 51, 68, 73. 74, 91. 93, 
9.5, 67, 100. 102, 108, 111, 114. 134, ^ ',7, 
165, 174, 176, 178, 201, 219, 220, 252, 254, 
294, 314, 355, .372, 373, 377. 381 -SM. 386, 
389, 391. 392, 401, 434. 442, 454, 468, -J 69, 
478, 497, 502, 515, 572, 588, 643, 647, 664 
Auteuil. 188 

Author, the, born 1, Commissary of War. 1; 
resigns, 17 ; Chief of Bnroan and Divi- 
sion, IS: Comptroll'^r-General in Mili- 
tary Affairs, 20 ; re-enters W^r Office, 
21 ; Secretary-General with Deforgues, 
23 ; Commissioner Foreign Affairs, .31 ; 
Minister Plen, to Florence, 25 ; meets 



7i6 



INDEX. 



Bonaparte at Brescia, 51, et seq., again 
Bologna, 55, et seq.; entertains Bona- 
parte at Florence, 6U ; goes toBome, 64 ; 
' Buperseded there by Cacault, 70 ; Am- 
bassador to Tnrin, 75 ; accepts a mission 
to Corsica, 15 ; has an interview witli 
Bonaparte at Montebello, 91, et seq.; 
anives at Turin, 96 ; has an interview 
with Bonaparte at Milan, 103 ; goes with 
him to Lalce Maggiore, 106 ; recalled 
from Turin, 116 ; arrives at Paris, 131 ; 
goes to Holland with Deforgues, 138 ; 
Seci-etary- General to Minister of War, 
149 ; interview with Bonaparte, 154 ; 
appointed Member of Tribunate, 159 ; 
Councillor of State, 186 ; selected for a 
second mission to Corsica, 196 ; ap- 
pointed Administrator-General of Golo 
and Liamone (Corsica), 219 ; leaves 
Paris, 220 ; in Corsica, 224-245 ; returns 
to Paris, 246 ; resumes his position as 
Councillor of State, 247 ; -appointed to 
speak at the Tribunate, 270 ; appointed 
to take control of the High Police of the 
Northern Departments of France, 348 ; 
his wife made Lady of the Palace to the 
Princess Julia, 357 ; he goes to Belgium 
on a special mission, 376 ; sent to join 
Prince Joseph at Naples, 393, made War 
Minister there, 398; made Count de 
Melito, 431 ; joins King Joseph in Spain, 
447 ; accompanies Joseph to Paris, 569 ; 
returns to Spain, 577 ; he is sent on a 
mission to the Emperor at Dresden, 
633 ; the Queen persuades him to return 
to the King at Bayorme, 636 ; he lives 
at Morfontaine, 638 ; the King sends 
him to Paris, 650 ; goes to Paris for 
passports for Imperial family, 676 ; he 
retires on an estate near Paris, 682 ; 
sent on a mission to La Rochelle, 689 

Avechueo, 627 

Avila, 616 



BABEUF, 205, 215 
Bacciochi, Mme., Napoleon's sister, 

197, 283 
Badajoz, 4^8, 501, 517, 562, 564, 565, 581, 587, 

588. 590, 591. 
Baden, 3'08, 309, 313, 314, 320 
Baird, General, 471 
Balanga (Corsica). &3, 225-227 
Balbi, Count Prosper de, 96, 101, 108, 118, 

126 
Bale (Basle). 33, 41, 114 
Ballesteros, General, 487, 591, 621 
Baltimore, 289 
Bancal, 21 
Barbarv, 400 

Barbe-Marbois, 180, 198,311, 388 
Barcelona. 517, 582 
Barral, 230. 232 

Ban-as, 44. 94. 115. 132. 135. 137, 151, 217 
Barrere, 36. 171, 172. 190, 191 
Bar sur-Aube, 25 

Barthelemy, French Ambassador, 33 
Bartolom6. Master. 532 
Bassano, Duke of, 583, 584, 653, G75, 676, 679 
Basseville, Consul, 62, 70 
Bastan, 682 



Bastia, 80, 81, 83, 84, 87, 89, 00, 228, 2^;), 
234 

Bastille, 8 

Batavia, Bepublic of, 142, 144 

Bathurst, Earl. 539 

Bavaria, 354, 381, 383, 391. ^ 

Bayle, Moses, 214 

Baylen, 507, 508. 517, 519, 556, 6^4 

Baylen, battle of, 432, 445, 452, 462, 4C3, 474 

Bayonne, 428, 429, 433, 4od-442. 444, 447, 
459, 465, 475, 483, 539, 554, 562, 566, 569, 
577, 582, 589, 612, 633, 6o5, 6a7 

Beauharnais, Eugene de, 292 ; made Prince, 
372, 376 ; and Viceroy of Italy, under 
the name of Prince Eugene Napoleon, 
379, 393, 394, 430 

Beauharnais, Hortense (Mme. Louis Bona- 
parte), Queen of Holland, 2S0, 324, 326, 
328, 372, 676 

Beaulieu, 51 

Bedmar, Marquis de, 312 

Begarre, General, 610, 616 

Belfort, 663 

Belgium, 25, 281, 283, 285, 301, 856, 361, 376, 
377, 647, 663 

Belleville, Eedou de, French Consul at Leg- 
horn, 59, ISO 

Bernard, General, 465, 483, 401, 555 

Belluna, Duke of — See Victor, Marshal 

Belmonte, Pignatelli, Prince, 48, 51, 62, 53, 
398 

Belvedere, Marquis of, 458 

Benedict XIV. (Lambertini), 434 

Benevento, 443, 444, 470 

Beraldi, 75 

Berenger, 270 

Beresford, Lord, 485, 487 

Berg, Duke of — See Murat 

Bergen, 141 

Berlier, 324, 325, 344 

Berlin, 571, 572 ; Congress of, 663 

Bernier, 180 

Bernadotte, 104-106 ; French Ambassador to 
Vienna, 102, 134, 1S5 ; Minister of War, 
137, 138, 149, 159 ; Councillor of State, 
im, 179, 180, 291, 333, 341 ; Prince of 
Sweden, 607, 643, 667 

Bernadotte, Mme.. 284 

Berry, Due de, 312 

Berthier. General Alexander, 37, 55, 59, 60, 
63. 79, 71, 104, 106, 107, 110 ; takes com- 
mand of Army of Italv, 112, 113 ; re- 
called to Paris, 117, 118, 130; Minister 
of War, 149 ; joins the army, 165, 191, 
335 ; Prince of Neufchatel, 405, 465 

Berthier, General C6sar, 415, 688 

Berthollet, Vice-President of the Senate, 60, 
304, 698 

Bertrand, 340 

Berwick, Marshal, 604 

Besancon, 663 

Bessieres. Marshal, 443, 444, 446, 447, 470, 
565. 581 

Beurnonville (" The French Ajax"), 21, 46 

Beverwick, 141, 144, 146 

Biandes, 637 

Bidassoa. 632. 633 

Bilboa, 448, 454, 626, 627, 628 

Billaud-Varennes, 36, 171, 172 

Binasco. 50 

Biran, Maine de, 651, 654 



index:. 



717 



3iscay, 5.39, 54o, 574, (J21 

Sisii^nano, Prince, Si)8 

Slake, G-eneral, 457, 458, 463, 483 

Blaniac, General Lafcnd^, 556 

31asco-Sancho, 596, 507 

31anchard, 1 

Blenheim. 383 

Slois, 669, 673, 674, 678-681 

Blucher, 668 

Bcadil, 5C4 

Bogognano, SO, 237, 240, 245 

Boissonado, 23 

Bologna, 53, 54, 55, 58, 61, 63, 65, 68, 69, 

257, 375 

Bonaparte, Canon Philippe, 60, 241 
Bonaparte, Caroline, Queen of Naples (Na- 
j poleon's sister), 112, 431 
Bonaparte, Charles (Napoleon's father), 178, 

241 
Bonaparte, Elisa (Napoleon's sister), 241, 

676 

Bonaparte, Jerome, King of Westphalia (Na- 
poleon's youngest brother), 112 ; mar- 
ries Miss Patterson, 289, 334, 395, 4oO, 
645, 669, 670, 673-676, 680, 696, 698, 701 
Bonaparte, Joseph, King of Spain (elder 
brother of Napoleon), French Minister at 
the Court of Parma, 75, 86, 89, 90, 92, 
93 ; Ambassador to Rome, 112 ; leaves 
Rome, 117, 136-139, 154. 162 ; Councillor 
of State, 169, 170, 172 ; named as Napo- 
leon's successor, 173, 174, 176-178, 180, 
181, 185, 187, 188, 191-194, 197, 219, 221, 
246, 249-258, 260. 263, 266-269, 283-293, 
S97, 311, 319-328 ; accepts command of 
the Fourth Regiment of the Line, 328, 
333 ; receives the title of Prince, 345- 
350, is made Grand Elector, 353-363, 366 ; 
he refuses the Crown of Lombardy, 369- 
371 ; returns to the Boulogne camp, 376, 
S85, 388-403 ; made King of Naples, 405, 
421 ; Napoleon proposes him for the 
throne of Spain, 425 ; he abdicates the 
throne of Naples, 430, 423-426, 428- 
433 ; declared King of Spain and the In- 
dies by the Junta, he assumes the titles 
of Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flan- 
ders, and King of Corsica, 441, 438, 440- 
448, 454-456, 458-461, 463-465, 467-470, 
472-480, 483, 488-501, 503-509, 513-517, 
519-521, 524-528, 531, 532, 537-544, 546- 
551, 553-556 ; leaves for Paris, 569-570, 
573-581 ; returns to Spain, 577, 58:d, 585, 
687-595, 597, 598, 600-602, 604-610, 612- 
616, 619-626, 628-639 : returns to Mor- 
fontaine, 638-641, 643, 644, 646-648 ; he 
consents to abdicate the throne of Spain, 
649, 650, 655 : he establishes himself at 
Luxembourg, 656-660. 664-666 ; his pro- 
clamation. 669. 670-676, 678-581, 683, 
687, 696, 698, 701, 702 
Bonaparte, Louis, King of Holland, Napo- 
leon's brother, 93 ; marries Hortense 
Beauharnais, 290, 324, 326-328; ap- 
pointed General of Division. 328 ; Prince 
Louis, 338, 357. 358, 360. 361, 369-372, 
385, 545, 645, 655, 656, 674, 676, 679, 696 
Bonaparte, Lucien, Prince of Canino, Napo- 
leon's brother, 139, 151 ; President of the 
Council of Five Hundred, 152, 153 : Min- 
ister of the Interior, 162, 163, 170, 172 ; 



named as Napoleon's successor, 173, 174, 
185, 195; Ambassador to Spain, 196, 
197, 250, 253, 287, 288 ; marries Mme. 
Jouberthon, 289-291, 293, 324, 327, 334, 
£56, 395, 397, 430, 545, 696, 699, 701, 702 
Bonaparte, Mme. Letitia. Napoleon's moth- 
er, 93, 241, 430, 649, 696 
Bonaparte, Napoleon. 44 ; given command 
of the Army of Italy, 45, 47, 50-52, 55-63, 
C5, 70-75, 79, 90-109; recalled from It- 
aly and given the command of the 
"Army of England," 110-114, 117, 125, 
129 ,130 ; discards the "u " in his name, 
133 ; expedition to Egypt, 133-136, 13S, 
139, 148-155 ; made First Consul, 158, 
160-166 ; leaves Paris to take com- 
mand of army, 167-173 ; Victory of Ma- 
rengo, 174 ; returns to Paris, 175, 189 ; 
conspiracy to assassinate, 190, 191-198 ; 
his speeches on slavery, et al.. 199-202, 
203; plots against the life of, 204- 219; 
his wrath against the Terrorists, 205, 
220-224, 227, 228, 235, 236 ; made First 
Consul for life, 240, 241 ; "acknowledged 
President of the Italian Republic, 252, 
257 ; his head on new coinage, 258-260, 
246-278, 279-296 ; conspiracies against 
the life of, 300-308. 2i)7-315, 316-336 ; he 
is made Emperor, 3S6, 337, 351, 352-368 ; 
crowned by the Pope, 364 ; he goes to 
Milan to be crowned King of Italy, S79 ; 
he sets out to join the army, 386, 369- 
376, 379-386, 387-393 ; returns to Paris, 
393-403, 405-407, 415, 418, 420, 421, 424, 
425, 427-432, 434, 439. 442, 444, 447, 448, 
454-471 ; he arrives in Spain, 455 ; he 
leaves Spain, 471, 474, 475, 477, 480, 487, 
493, 496, 497, 500, 501, 510, 515, 537-540 ; 
marries Marie Louise. Archdtichess of 
Austria. 541, 543-549, 551-555, 563-565 ; 
birth of the King of Rome, 566-579, 582- 
584, 588-590. 594, 606-612, 619, 620, 622, 
625 ; at Dresden, 633, 634, 6S6-638, 642, 
643 ; at St. Cloud, 645-660 ; he leaves 
Paris to join the army, 661, 663-670 ; 
continues hia march to Paris, 670, 672, 
673 ; at Frmtainebleau. 674-678 ; his ab- 
dication announced, 679, 681-684 ; re- 
turns from Elba, 686-692, 694-700 ; sets 
out to join the army, 7()1 ; returns to 
Paris and offers to abdicate, 702, 704 

Bonaparte, Pauline, Napoleon's sister, 93 ; 
death of her husband. Gen. Leclerc.258; 
marries Prince Borghese, 290, 292, 676 

Bonifacio, 86, 88 

Bonnelli, Duke de, 191 

Bonnet, 597 

Bonnier, 133, 137 

Bordeaux, 300, 572, 638, 659 

Borghese, Princess Pauline Bonaparte, which 
see 

Borgo, Pozzo di, 75 

Botto, 111, 215. 217 

Bouchotte, 21, 22, 23 

Bouillerie, Baron de la, 674, 677 

Boujoux, 201 

Boulay (de la Meurthe), 151, 170, 325, 329, 
672-674 

Boull^, 691 

Boulogne, 293. 331, 334, 345-348, 352, 353, 
376, 380, 381, 426 



7i8 



INDEX. 



Bounaire, 691 

Bourbaki, 138 

Bourbon, Duke of, 695 

Boilibon (He de la Keunion), 19S, 663 

Bourbons, the, 1U2, 104, 112. 253, 256, 257, 
2b6, 288, 298, 302, 305-309. 313-315, 317, 
319-322, 331, 332, 346, 349, 354, 389, 418, 
438, 442, 467, 660, 661, 664, 678, 686, 689, 
692, 693, 699 

Bourdon, 36, 594 

Bourges, Archbishop of, 699 

Bourgignon, 214 

Bourienne, 92 

Bourmont, General, 218 

Bournonville, General, French. Minister to 
Berlin, 187 • 

Bourrienne, 185 

Bouvet, 302, 307 

Bovigo, Duke of, 666 

Braganza, 438 

Brescia, 51, 52, 53, 94 

Bresgau, 391 

Breuva Glacier, 121, 122 

Brienne, de, 1, 663 

Brittany, 218 

Briviesca, 458 

Broglie, Marshal de, 2, R 

Brune, General, succeeds Bei-thler in com- 
mand of the Army of Italy, 117, 118, 125. 
127, 128, 139; commands the French and 
Batavian troops, 141, 142, 144-149, 
171 

Brusasco, Count de, 120 

Brussels, 330 

Buchot, 29, 30. 31 

Buenavesta, 520 

Buen-Retiro, 463, 465, 474, 489-491, 500, 603 

Burgo.s, 443, 444, 446, 447, 453, 454, 457-459, 
543. 544, 577, 578, 594, 611-613, 616, 619, 
622. 623, 626, 639 

Burc;un(iy, 516 

Burk, Count, 479 

Busaco,.551, 552 

Busch, 693 

Buytrago, 444, 461, 462 



CABANIS, 151, 168, 181 
Cabarrus, Count, 442, 541, 542; Th6r^se, 
Princesse de Chimay, 542 
Cacault, 70, 73, 75 
Cadiz. 390. 450, 452 501, 513, 514, 517, 519, 

525, 541, 542, 549. 554, 565, 579, 581, 5S4, 

589, 607, 608, 619, 621 
Cadore, Duke of, 540, 548, 561, 563, 566, 

669 
Cadondal, Georges, 208, 218, 273, 275, 300, 

802, 303, 307, 308, 340, 341 
Caen. 569, 573 
Caesar, 195. 208. 254, 527 
Gaffarelli. General, 356, 581 
Cairo, 178 

Calabria, 397, 402, 403-407, 409-411, 415, 420 
Calder, Admiral, 380 
Caligula, 530 

Calonne, de (nicknamed Hortensius), 5, 542 
Calvi (Corsica), 83, 114, 223 
Camildoli, 413 
Cambac6res. 30. ra. S5. 137: second Consul, 

158, 184. 185. 2-1P-251, 253, 268, 270, 281, 

282, 289, 306, 320, 321, 324, 329, 330, 335, 



336; Arch-Chancellor of the Empire. 338, 
344, 350, 358, 360, 361, 376, 388, C59, 668, 
678, 699, 701 

Cambrai, 21 

Camerino, 431 

Campagne, 638 

Campo-Alanje, Duke of (M. Negretti), 474, 
475, 567 

Campo Chiaxo, Duke de, 398, 419, 646 

Campo-Formio, treaty of, P3, 110, 111, 112, 
114, 133, 135, 176, 177, 391 

Campoloro, 233 

Campo-Tenese, 402, 405, 407 

Campredon, General, 426 

Camus, 21 

Canclaux, General, 22 

Canclaux, Senator Count, 683 

Capocelatre, Archbishop of Tarento, 425 

Capraja, 79, 90 

Capri, island of, 397, 407, 409, 427 

Carbon, Captain, 218 

Carbon e, 410 

Carletti, Count, 33, m, 46 

Carmona, 513, 514, 515 

Carniola. 91 

Carnot, General, 32. 35, 94, 104 ; Minister of 
War, 164 ; named as Bonaparte's succes- 
sor, 171-173; resigns, 191, 333, 362, 
667 

Caroline, Queen, 420, 427 

Carosio, 125 

Carrion-Nisas, 338, 699 

Carteaux, General, 221 

Carthage, 671 

Carzana, Marquis de Val de, 475 

Casablanca, General, 114, 115, 228 

Casallegar, 488 

Casapalacio, Marquis de, 497 

Casarabonela, 527, 528 

Cassano, Dak( de, 398, 415-417, 419 

Cassel, 643, 645 

Castaiios, General. 445. 446, 448-450, 457, 
461, 468, 513, 523, 523, 611, 614 

Castejon, General, 507 

Castelar, Marquis of, 465 

Castelfranco, Prince de, 441, 442, 463, 469 

Castellamare. 407, 413, 419 

Castiglione, 71, 72 

Castile, 443, 549, 557, 558, 589, 603, 616, 623 

Castricum, 141 

Castries de 213 

Catalonia, 456, 457, 501. 539, 543, 544, 557, 
574, 580. 582, 589, 592, 639 

Catanzaro, 409. 411 

Caulaincourt, 309, 358 

Cavallar, Don Pedro, 469 

Ceracchi, 59. 190, 192, 213, 217 

Cervantes, 505 

Cervione, 233 

Cervoni, General, 220. 221 

Cevallos, de, 442, 446, 463, 475 

Chaillot, 302 

Chfllons-sur-Mnme. 661 

Chamartin, 464, 4t6, 468, 470 

Chambord, 675 

Champagny, Minister of the Interior, 358, 
366 

Champaubert, 663 

Champenoise, la F6re. 668 

Championnet, General, 137 

ChantUly, 269 



INDEX. 



719 



Chaptal, Count, Minister of the Interior, 

197, 700 
Charenton, 670 

Charlemagne, 329, 33G, 401, 432 
Charles, Archduke, 91, 137, 313 
Charles Emmanuel IV., King of Sardinia, 

96 — See " Sardinia, Kings of." 
Charles II. of Spain, 473 
Charles III. of Spain, 473, 542, 595 
Charles IV. of Spain, 440, 441, 462, 467, 473, 

475, 544 
Charles V., 330, 425, 465, 527, 5£0, 5Z2, 533, 

534 595 
Charles' X. (Comte d'Artois), 4, 6-9, 99; 

Comtesse, 99, 111, 129, 328, 354 
Chartres, 669, 670, 672. 673, 674 
Chatillon-sur-Seine, 659 ; congress of, 667 
Chatonnay, 692 
Chaudien. 36 
Chav6s, 486, 487 
Chazal, 35 
Cherbourg, 569, 573 
Chevalier, 213, 214 
Chiaja, 426 
Chiclana, 565 
Chicoouri, 122 
Chinchilla, 604 
Chouans, 208, 211, 218 
Cianciulli, de. 398 
Cid, the, 578, '616 
Cincovillas, 632 
Ciotat, 246 

Cisalpine Republic, 125, 127, 194 ; takes the 
name of Italian Republic, 252, which 

Ciudad-Real, 478 

Ciudad-Rodrigo, 547, 559, 584, 587, 590, 591, 

615 
Civita-Castella, 71 
Clarke, General (afterward Due de Feltre), 

92, 93, 96, 97, 102, 104, 110, 608, 611, 634, 

636, 639, 674, 617, 679 
Clary, Marius, 551, 556 
Clausel, General, 596, 597, 598, 621, 625, 62?, 

628, 689 
Claye, 668. 670 
Clement XII. (Corsini), 434 
Clermont-Tonnerre, de, 496, 499, 560, 561 
Clisson, 70 
Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia (sister of Louis 

XVI.), 114 
Cobentzel, Count Philip von, Austrian Min- 
ister, 135, 193, 194, 195, 219, 258, 312, 

315, 365 
Cognes, Valley of. 124 
Coimbra, 487, 551, 552, 565 
Colchen. 23, 24. 28, 29, 30, 31, 36 
Col de Bate, 632 
Col d'Echalar, 632 
Col de Maya, 632 
Columbus, Christopher, 519, 616 
Compans, General, 668, 670 
Compeigne, Palace of, 646 
Conde, Mademoiselle de, 99 
Cond6, Prince de, 2 
Constant, Benjamin, 160, 163, 16T, 689 
Constantinople, 136 
Consuegra, 478 
Copenhagen, 439 
Coral d'Almagro, 603 
Cordeliers' Club, 



Cordova, 445, 449-452, 506-510, 512, 515, 

516 
Cordova. Gonzalez de, 616 
Corfu, 223, 427, 428 
Cormayeur, 121. 122 
Corsica, 75, 76, 79-85, 87-89, 219-223, 224- 

245, 247, 249 
Corsini — See Neri Corsini. 
Corta, 229, 230, 232, 237 
Corte (Corsica), 84, 85, 228 
Cortez, Fernan, 519 
Cortona, 71, 409 

Corunna, 380, 381, 390, 470, 476, 4S6 
Cosenza, 410, 411 
Costaz, Baron, 674 
Cotton, General, 596 
Coupe, 303 

Coupigny, Marquis de, 449, 450 
Couthaud, Charles P, E., General, 82 
Cranc6, Dubois de, 35 
Crescentino, 120 
Croix de Berny, 638 
Cromwell, 195, 208 
CronG 1 55 

Cuen?a, 474, 499, 585, 594, 699, 610, 616 
Cuesta, General, 443, 478, 485, 488, 492 
Cur6e, 304, 332, 333 
Cuvier, 698 



DAENDELS, General, 141, 143, 144, 147 
D' Albany, Mme., 43 
Dalmatia, Duke of. — See Soult, Marshal. 
D'Almenara, Marquis of, 519, 548, 553, 554, 

555, 590, 657 
Dalrymple, General, 453 
D'Altamira. 469 
D'Alvinzi, 73 
Damiel, 505 
Dammartin, 284 
D'Angely, Regnault de Saint, Jean, 93, 155, 

2.00, 204, 263, 266, 267, 270, 305. 309, 329, 

366, 382, 886, 65u, 651, 654, 655, 674, 689, 

690, 692, 696, 698, 701 
D'Arglas, Boissy, 32, 35, 319, 331, 356, 689, 

6'.)0 
D'Angosse. Count, 637 
Dannou, 118, 162 
Danton, 24, 26. 27, 28 
Dantzic, 4iO 
Dantzic, Duke of. — See Lefebvre-Desnouet- 

tes. General. 
D'Ariza, Marquise, 441 
D'Artois, Comte (afterward Charles X.), 4, 6- 

9, 99 ; Comtesse, 99, 111, 129. 328, c54 
D'Asauza, 442, 540 

D'Astorga, Marquis, Count of Altamira, 445 
Dauchy, 325, 348 
D'Aultannes, 619 
Dauphin, 10 
David, 302, 306 
Davoust, General, 331 
Dax, 569 
D'Azara, Chevalier, Spanish Ambassador at 

Rome, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 
Derby, Jean, French Ministry, 137 
Decr6s, Minister of Marine, 329 
Dedon, General, 426 
Defermon, 207, 210, 325, 335, 687 
Deforgues. Minister of Foreign Affairs, 23, 

24, 26, 27, 28 ; appointed Minister to 



720 



INDEX. 



Batavian Eepublic, 138, 139, 145, 150, 

213 
Defiance, General, 566, 567 
Dego, engagement at. 47 
D'Egla'ntine, Fabre, 24, 25 
Dejean, General, 672 
Beniargay, General, 6!)3 
Demerville. 100, 191, 217 
Demony, 229, 237 
D'Enghien. Due, 286, 308-311, 314, 315, 319- 

321, 332, 35;^, 354 
Denmark, 35, 439, 479 
D'Entraigues, Count, 104, 106, 112 
D'Erlou, Connt. 543, 559, 584. 591, 592, 595, 

613, 614, 615, 617. 620, 623 
D'Eroles, Baron, 557, 631 
Desaix, General, 176, 179, 214 
De.«6ze, 654 

Desgraviers, General, 579 
Deslandes, 593 
Desmoulins, 24, 26, 27 
Desprez, Colonel, 565, 608, 609, 619, 637 
Dessolle, 506 
D'Estaing. Colonel of Versailles National 

Guard, 11 
J- Destrem, 215 

Deux-Sevres, 392, 693 

De Vins, General, 45, 62 

D'Eyverchelt, Pepin, 213 

Dezeusano, 53 

D'Hauterive, 651 

D'Herbois, Collet, 36 

D'Herbonville, 376 

Didier, 215 

Diesbach, 2 

Dijon, 161, 165, 167, 674 

Don Benito. 478 

Don Carlos, 595 

Don Juan VI., of Portugal, 439 

Don Quixote, 505, 542 

Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, 617 

D'Orgaz, Count, 441, 442 

D'Oro, Monte, 85 

Dorcet, Duchess of, 262 

D'OsRuna, Duke, 441, 442, 469 

Douai, 8 

Douleus, Citadelof, 683 

Doulevent. 668 

Drake, 313, 318, 319 

Dresden, 633, 636 

Drouet, General. — See D''Erlon, Count 

Dubois Crance, 138 ; Prefect of the Police, 

213, 848, 351,699 
Dubreton, General, 611 
Duces, Roger, 155 
Dudon, 582 
Dufrene. 164 
Dugommier, General, 221 
Dumas, General Mathieu, 398, 403, 419, 

533 
Dumont, 35 

Dumouri.iz, 21, 46, 301, 307 
Dunkerque, 264 
Duphot. General, 117 

Dupont, General, 4;:2. 444, 445, 448, 452, 507 
D'Urbino, Duke of, 478 
Diircr, Albert, 532 
Duroc, Marshal, 311, 312, 358, 545 
D-Urquijo, 540, 555, 563, 507 
Datheil. 273 
Duveyrier, 160, 167 



EBRO, 446. 448, 453, 454, 456, 457, 46i/, 
462, 4S2, 483 

Echasseriaux, 172 

Egypt. 117, 133, 135, 136, 139, 150, 154, 164, 
165, 167, 178, 221, 222, 261, 2lJ5, 273-275, 
277, 438. 480 

Elba, Island of, 231, 239, 265, 291, 676, 686 

Elb(>, River, 281 

Elbonete, 604 

El Bosque, 526 ' 

Eichingen, Duke of.. — See Ney, Marshal 

EHzondo, 632 

Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 82 

El Molar, 462 

El Toboso, 603 

Elys6e, 694, 702 

Empecinado, 594, 617 

England, 41, 82 ; army of, 110, 113, 133, 140- 
146, 194, 195, 201, 203, 211. 285. 252, 260- 
265, 267, 2t9, 271, 274-277, 279-282. 292, 
298, 300. 301, 302, 305, 314, S53-3fi5, 373, 
383, 438, 4;39, 454, 456, 467. 469-471, 476, 
479, 482, 485-493, 49(5, 498-501. 504. 515, 
516, 522, 524, 538, 545, 549, 552, 560, 571- 
573, 581, 588, 591, 596-598. 601, 607, 608, 
612-614, 621, 622, 647, 663, 664, 693, 695 

Erba Lunga, 80 

Erfiii th, 448, 454, 455, 571 

Espejo, 624 

Espert, General, 637, 671 

Espinosa, 457, 458, 463 

Essling, 583 

Estremadura, 457, 458, 478, 485, 499. 501, 
. 513, 517, 523, 549, 552, 564, 5bl, £84, 588, 
590, 591, 611 

Etampes, 677 

Etruria, 74, 258, 372 

Ettenheim, 308, 309, 311, 313 

Eylau, 456 



FABBRONI, 43, 78 ; Madame, 78 
Fabre (de I'Aude}, President of the 

Tribunate, 332, 3i^i, 367, 368, 374 
Fabvier, 598 
Fargues, 335 
Faviers, Mathieu, 639 
Favorita, Battle of, 73 
Felix, 215 

Feltre, Duke of. — See Clarke, General 
Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, 

39, 40, 46, 50. 54. 57, 58, 6(t, 61, 74 ; IV., 

of Naples, 434, 575 
Ferdinand VIT. of Spain, 440, 442. 443, 464, 

485, 496, 498, 524, 525. 545, 560, 647, 658, 

663 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 530, 532 
F6rino, Senator, 406 
Fernan Nufiez, Count de, 441, 442, 469 
Ferrara, 68, 69, 375 
Ferri Pisani, 478 
Fesch, Cardinal, Napoleon's uncle, 93, 178, 

228. 241, 401, 696 
Finet, 35 

Fiumorbo, 87. 225, 227 
Flahaut, de, 646 
Flanders, regiments of, 9, 10, 12, 14, 347, 

570 
Flangergues. 651, 654 
Fleurieu. 177 
Fleury, 701 



INDEX. 



721 



Florence, 35, 87, 88, 44, 47, 48, 54, 57, 58, 60. 
62, 64, 70, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 90, M, 240,' 
575 

Florent, Guyot, French Minister at the 
Hague, 138, 145, 146 

Flores de Avila, 599 

Florian, 530 

Florida-Blanca, Count, 462 

Flushing, 378 

Foce di Guizzavona, 85 

Foligno, 71 

Fontana, 43, 78 

Fontancp, de, 282 ; made President of the 
Legislative Body, 294, 295, 303, 304, 315, 
316, 829, 330, 334, 366. 368, 4U1, 672 

Fontainebleau, 360, 376, 379. 553, 670, 672, 
674, 675, 679, 682 

Pontenoy, le Comte, 693 

Foro, 469 

Fossombroni, Signor, 43, 54, 55, 58, 78 

Fouch6, head of Police, 163, 192, 19S, 205, 
214, 215, 311, 319, 329-331, 348, 351, 
406, 697 

Fourcroy, 32, 35, 175, 825 

Fournier, 215 

Foy, General, 551, 552, 591 

Fra Diavolo, 410, 415 

France, 35. 36, 41, 49, 72-74, 96-93, 110, 
114, 136. 274-276, 281, 292, 293, 313, 327, 
454, 629, 632, 633, 643, 644, 648, 664 

France, Government of, Louis XVI. King, 
4; Convocation of States-General, 5 
et seq. ; Reign of Terror, 21 ; Commune, 

• - 22 et seq. ; Republic, 28 ; Directory, 44 ; 
_*' Directory abolished, 151, 154; Change 
of Constitution, 151 ; Three Consuls 
created, 154; St. Cloiid placed at its 
disposal, 183 ; Decrees of the Consuls 
changed into Senatus Consultum, 212 ; 
Concordat signed hx Paris, 235 ; First 
Consul appointed for life, 240 ; Second 
and third ditto, 250 ; A new coinage 
with Napoleon's effigy, 258, 260 ; A new 
system of taxation established, 295, 
296 ; Napoleon made Emperor, 336 ; 
The Ligurian Republic annexed to 
France, 379 ; Republican Calendar abol- 
ished, 381 ; Dissolution of the Corps 
L6gislatif, 651 ; Conspiracy in favor of 
Provisional Government, 666 ; Regency 
established at Blois, 673 ; Napoleon 
abdicates, 679 ; Opening of the Cham- 
ber of Representatives, 700 

Franceschi, John Baptist. General. 82, 83, 
533 

Francis II., Emperor of Germany, 383, 891 

Frankfort. 645 

Fr6jus, 688 

Freviile, Baron, 35, 38, 49, 65, 66, 73 76, 284. 
286, 469, 477 

Frais, Duke de, 441, 475 

Friedland, battle of, 420 

Friuli, Marshal, Duke of, 455 

Fuente de Higuera, 609 

Fuente-Grimaldo, 591 

Fulda, 645 

GAl&TA, 397, 403, 406, 409, 410 
Galeazzina, John Baptist, Mayor of 
Bastia, 82, 243 



Galicia, 457, 458, 463, 470, 486, 522, 544, 557, 

589, 614 
Gallo, Marquis de, 102, 396, 398, 646, 650, 

651, 654 
Gallois, 133. 150, 167, 168, 333 
Gallerzzi, 43, 78 
Gamarra Major, 627 
Gamarra Minor, 627 
Gamoual, 458 

Ganteaume, Admiral, 221-223, 427 
Garat, French Ambassador to Naples, 117, 

119, 120, 130, 168, 335. 
Gardoqui, Mgr., 180 
Garrau, 57, 62, 63 
Gasparin, 221 
Gatto, Marquis de. 92 
Gaudm, Emile, Minister of Finance, 152, 335, 

406 
Gazan, General. 506, 620, 623 
Gazan, Countess, 631 

Genoa, 36. 'sV,' 45, 62, 91, 93, 99, 108, 125, 130. 

379, 385. 398, 532 
Gentili, General, 75, 79, 81, 83, 86, 88 
George III.. King of England, 271, 273, 276, 

277, 280, 874," 380 
Gerard. 506, 688 
Germany. Ill, 356, 360, 361, 383, 392, 439, 

454,'45H, 480, 497, 502, 644, 676, 688 
Gibralt^ir. 438, 521, 523, 526, 527 
Gingu6ne, French Ambassador to Turin, 

116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 125, 126, 127, 128, 

129. 130 
Girardin, Alexandre, General, 688, 697 
Girardin B6ranger, 168, 170, 172, 174, 192, 

325 
Girardin, Stanislas, 284, 286, 290, 320, 322, 

826. 333, 346, 353, 356, 357, 433, 474, 576 
Girodet, 474 
Ginlay, Coimt, 391 
Godoy, Don Manuel, 196 
Gogel, 146 
Gohier. 137 
Golo (Corsica), 83, 84, 85, 86, 219, 227, 234, 

286 
Gombault, Lachaise, 213, 214 
Gotha, 615 

Gouvernet, Marquis de, 11, 14 
Gouvion, St. Cyr, General. — See St. Cyr. 
Graham, General, 628 
Graindorge, General, 551 
Graudmaison, 152 
Gras, 6(j6 

Gravina, Admiral, 390 
Gravina, Ambassador from Spain to Paris, 

365 
Grazalema, 526^ 
Gr6goire (Bishop of Blois), 385 
Grenada, 507, 508*, 516, 517, 580, 531, 535, 

587 
Greenville, Sir Thomas, 194 
Grotelle (Corsica), 232 
Guadalaxara, 549, 550, 603, 616 
Guadarrama, 461, 462, 470, 489, 494, 596, 

600, 609, 612, 613, 617 
Guadiana, 478, 504, 505, 590 
Guaroman, 450, 451 
Guendy, Antonio, 63 
Guibert, Comte de, 1, 2 
Guillemardet, French Ambassador to Spain, 

11? i 



722 



INDEX. 



Guines, Due de, Lieutenant- General, 1 

Guinette, 21 

Guipuscoa, 589 

Gurwood, Lieutenant-Colonel, 599 



HAARLEM, 140 
Hague, 138, 139, 142, 144, 147, 150 
Hamburg, 572 
Hamilton, Lady, 130 
Hanan, 645 
Hanover, 281 
Hardenberg, Prince, 380 
Haro, 624 
Hartwell, 678 
Hassenfratz, 20, 21, 21 
Hautes Pyr6n6es, 690 
Hawkesbury, Lord, 261, 271, 273, 278, 280 
Helder, 144 
Helvoetsluya, 139 
Henry IV., 359 
Herreras, Juan, 518, 532 
Hesse-Cassel, 33 
Hesse-Philippsthal, General the Prince of, 

420 
Hesse, Prince Charles of, 215 
Hel, S., 140 
Hilar, 442 

Hill, General, 594, 595, 611, 612, 614, 627 
Heche, 105 

Hohenlinden, 203, 219 
Holland, 33, 139, 140 ; adopts Republican 

Constitution, 142-141, 150, 268, 271, 301, 

S54, 376, 389, 561, 572, 645, 646, 656, 663 
Homer, 671 
Hood, Admiral, 82 
Hortense, Queen of Holland.— See Beauhar- 

nais, Hortense 
Hortensius. — See Colomie de 
Hubert, 263, 266, 270 
Hullin, General, 310 
Humbert, 29 
Huningen, 648, 663 



INFANTADO, Duke del, 441, 442. 403, 464, 
467, m, 474, 478 

Ionian Islands, 427 

Ireland, 293 

Irun, 633 

Irunson, 632 

Iseran, 124 

Isla de Leon, 520, 521, 522, 523, 549, 554, 555 

Isola Bella, 107 

Isonzfl,, 91 

Italian Republic (Cisalpine), 252, 257, 375 ; 
changed into Kingdom of Italy, 381, 405, 
406, 431, 435, 438 

Itnlica 519 

Italy, 42, 45, 46, 48, 51, 52, (;2, 67, 68 et seq., 
72 et seq., 91, 95,98, 109, 113, 114, 117, 
124, 125, 129, 1S3. 219, 262, 271, 272, 281, 
:-53, 355, 361, 373-376. 379, 380, 389, 391- 
391, 400, 401, 406, 429, 454, 45e, 480, 570, 
575, 644, 646, 647, 663 

Italy, King of, 663, 688 



JAGA, 484, 6yo 
Jacob, 54, 108 
Jacobins, 151, 152, 154, 158, 159, 162-164, 



171, 174, 181, 192, 201, 207, 211, 212, 298, ' 
309, 322 

Jaen, 516, 517, 535, 536, 537 

Jamin, General, 431, 499, 630, 662, 686, 701 

Jard-Panvilliers, 333 

Jaucourt, Count of, 356, 357, 576, 635, 658, 
666, 670, 672, 677, 679, 680 

Jemappes, 21^ 

Jena, 415, 456 

Jerusalem, 233 

Joinville, 668 

Jonques, Baron Arbaud de, 689. 690 

Josephine, Empress (Mme. Beauharnais), 45, 
62, 93, 106, 107, 112, 135, 184, 195, 204, 
213, 248, 250, 252-254, 256, 258, 262, 281- 
284, 286, 288-290, 311, a>0, 324, 326-328, 
331, 336, 346, 356, 358, 359, 361, 363-305 ; 
crowned Empress, 364. 371, 376, 430, 458 

Joseph II., 39 

Joubert, General, 137 

Jourdan, Marshal, 137, 159 ; Minister to 
Piedmont, 180, 349, 428, 447, 454, 480, , , 
481, 497. .576, 588, 589, 592, 607, 609, 614, | 
616, 619, 621, 623, 624, 626, 627, 628, 629, | 
630, 631, 632, 636 

Jovellanos, Don Jos6, 442, 475 

Juana, 532 

Judenbourg, 91 

Julia, Princess (wife of Prince Joseph Bona- 
parte), 363 ; Queen of Naples, 425, 428, 
430, 551 ; Queen of Spain, 561, 562, 563, 
566, 577, 635, 636, 637, 638, 643, 646, 648, 
649, 657, 671, 672, 673. 677, 679, 681, 698 

Julian (painter), 534 

JuUien, 19 

Jumillard, 213 

Junius Brutus, bust of, 63 

Junot, 58, 183, 191, 453,457,488, 565 



KELLERMAN, Marshal, Duke of Valmv, 
37, 45, 481, 500, 551, 559, 645 
King, the. — See Louis XVI 
Kleber, 178, 214 
Knox, Major-General, 145 
Kouratin, Prince, 430, 583, 584 
Kray, General, 177 



LABORIE, DE, 152 
Laborde, de, 519 
La Carlotta, 512 
La Carolina, 506, 507 
Lac6pede, 331, 335 
La China, 490 

Lacu6n, 19. 210, 324, 335, 366 
Lacroix, 24, 25, 46, 74, 175, 672 
La Fayette, Geneiai, 15-17, 187 
La Forest, de. French Minister at Berlin, 

380, 469, 477 
Laforet, 555, 563, 566, 583, 622, 058, 680 
Lagarde, Secretary-General, 134, 155 
Laguillaumie, de, 230 
Laignelot, 213 

Lain6, Monsieur, 651, 652, 653, 654 
Lajolais, 301-303, 306 
Lake Melo, 231, 232 
Lallemant, Minister of the French Republic, 

54 
La Louisiana, 512 
Lamago, 591 



INDEX. 



723 



La Mancha, 451, 472, 478, 485, 488, 499, 501, 

504, 542, 549, 585, 603, 604, 605, 616, 

621 
Lamarque, General, 21, 693 
Lambert, Marquis de, 1 
Lameth, Charles de, Colonel of Cuirassiers, 3 
La Monclea, 513 
La Mota de Cuervo, 603 
Lampedusa (island of), 266, 268 
Languedoc, 516 
Laujuinais, Count, 335, 700 
Lannes, General, 53, 355, 457 ; Marshal, 460, 

482, 483 
Laodicia, President Archbishop of, 522 
Laon, 668 
Laplace, de, 175, 181 ; made Chancellor of 

the Senate, 287, 288, 331, 382, 449, 660, 

698 
La Plaine, 690 

Lareveillere-Lepaus, 137, 146, 342 
Larici, 37 

La Eochefoucaulds, 356 
La Eocbelle, 689, 690 
Latour d'Auvergne, 179 
Latour, Foissae, 179, 180 
Latour, Maubourg, Senator, 683 
Lauz, 632 
La Vendue, 22, 137, 180, 208, 218, 302, 639, 

683, 690, 692, 693, 695 
Laviello, Duke of. 426 
La Villette, 668, 670 
Lavore, 415 
Lebajoz, 597. 598 
Le Bocage, 691 
Lebreton, 168 
Lebrun, Poet, 155 
Lebrun, Third Consul, 158, 198, 248-251, 253, 

259, 268, 281, 282, 289, 306, 320, 321, 324, 

329, 330, 335 ; Arch-Treasurer, 338, 358- 

361, 385 
Le Carrion, 469 
Lecce, 420 
Lecher, 530 

Leclerc, General, 60, 93, 258, 290 
Lecourbe, 137 
Lecouteuix de Canteleu, Vice-President of 

the Senate, 318, 320, 321, 329, 331 
Lefebvre - Desnouettes, General, Duke of 

Dantzic, 335, 455, 457, 469; Marshal, 

478 
Leganez, 601 
Legendre, 24, 25 
Leghorn, 37. 38, 42-47, 50, 52, 55, 59, 62, 74, 

75. 79, 90 
Leipsic, 644 

Lemercier, Nepomucene, 342 
Lenoir-Laroche, 168 
Leoben, 97, 98, 176 
Leon, Fernandez de, 522 
L6on, Province of, 474, 557 
Leopold, Peter, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 

afterward Emperor of Austria, 35, 87. 

39, 40, 41, 49, 68, 76, 176, 177 
Lepelletier, 215 
Leria, 582 

licscalier, Counrillor of State, 222 
Leyva, Antonio de, 616 
Liamone (Corsica), 84, 85, 88, 219, 227, 234, 

236, 243 
Liberals, 164 
Lichtenstein, Prince, 391 



Ligny, 701 

Ligurian Republic, 125, 126, 127, 379, 381 

Lillo, 603 

Lima, de, Ambassador from Portugal to 

Paris, 365 
Limoges, 638 

Lisbon, 455, 485, 487, 497, 500, 523, 551, 552 
Lobau, 583 

Lodi, bridge of, 47 ; Duke of, see Melzi, de 
Lombardy'; 50, 69, 94, 95, 107, 347, 355, 369- 

375 
Lomenie, Cardinal de, 4 
Lonata, 72 
Longa, 557, 626 
Longchamps, 320 

Lonue, General Franceschi de, 488 
Los Arapiles (Salamanca), 596, 598, 599, 600, 

602, 603, 607, 613, 616 
Los Infantes, 505 
Louis, Baron, 666 
Louis XIV., 4, 8, 256, 494, 653 
Louis XV,, 247. 673 
Louis XVL (King), 4, 10, 13, 14. 16, 17, 21 ; 

daughter of, 46, 107, 171. 315. 573 
Louis XVIII. (Monsieur), 4, 7, 17, 99, 193, 

285, 286, 298, 314, 678, 682, 686, 693 
Loxa, 530 
Lucca, 59 

Luca- Giordano, 595 
Lucchesini, de, Russian Minister, 194 
Lucien, Colonel, 222 
Lucotte, General, 609 
LuneviUe, 178, 187, 193, 195, 197, 219, 220, 

258, 386 
Lungo-Sardo (Sardinia), 88 
Luxembourg, 132, 154, 259, 345, 349, 350, 385, 

392, 649, 650, 656, 657, 658, 662, 6S5, 666, 

670, 671, 672 
Lynch, 659 
Lyons, 252, 300, 432, 572 



MACDONALD, Marshal, 137, 406 
Macedonio, State Councillor, 419 

Macerata, 431 

Madrid, 432, 433, 438, 446, 448, 451, 453, 455, 
456, 461, 469, 472, 475, 477, 479, 482, 488, 
501, 504, 507, 514, 516, 536, 541, 544,546, 
547, 549, 551, 553, 554, 556, 557, 562, 563, 
565, 568, 576, 580, 582. 584, 585, 587, 588, 
590, 592, 594, 695, 597. 598, 600, 603, 606, 
609, 612, 613, 616, 622,624, 639 

Madridejos, 478, 504 

Madrigal, 616 

Magardel, 207 

Maggiore, Lake, 106, 107, 126 

Malaga, 517, 525, 529, 531, 533, 535, 537, 539, 
540, 606 

Mallet, General, 618 

Malmaison, 182, 213, 214, 311 

Malonet, 266, 267, 378 

Malta, 260, 262,-273, 275, 277, 280, 281, 293, 
381, 438, 663 

Manfredini, Marquis de, 39-42, 46, 48 

Mantua, 50, 51, 65, 71, 72, 73, 87, 88 90, 95, 
137, 179 

Marcus Aurelius. bust of. 63 

Marengo, 174, 176, 176, 183, 194, 214, 285 

Marescot, General, 450, 451 

Maret, 35, 46, 152 ; Secretary of State, 213, 
215, 217, 332, 333, 338 



724 



INDEX. 



Marguerite, Queen, 359 

Maria, Queen of Portugal, 439 

Marfa Tlieresa, of Austria, 497, 575 

Marie Antoinette, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 16, 17 

Marie, Colonel. 425 

Marie Louise, Empress of France, 540, 575, 

5&3, 644, 659, 660, 664, 667, 668, 670, 672- 

675, 681, 695, 696 
Markoflt, Eussian Ambassador, 264, 269, 292, 

353 
Marlborough, 183 
Marmont, Marshal, 58, 59, 183, 580, 586, 

587, 590, 591, 594, 598, 611, 613 
Marquerito, 487 
Marseillaise, 648 

Marseilles, 37, 220, 221, 245, 246, 300 
Martin, Don Juan, 557 
Martinique, 265 
Massaredo, 442 
Mass^na, Marshal, 105, 117, 130, 137, 138, 

179, 393, 403. 407, 408, 410, 411, 428, 

457, 547, 549, 551, 552, 560, 564, 565, 

581, 611 
Masserano, Prince de, 475 
Massimo, Marquis, Envoy of the Pope, 64 
Mathieu, General, 678 
Maurin, Edward, 99 
Mauritius (Isle de Prance), 198. 663 
Maya-la Honda, 601 
Mayence, 22, 645, 662 
Meaux, 665, 608, 669, 683 
Mechm, Prefect of the Department of the 

Landes, 291 
Medelin, 478, 485 
Medicis, Marie de, 359, 360 
Medinada Pdoseco, 444 
Medina Sidonia. 525 
Mediterranean Sea. 438, 526, 526 
Meerficld, Count de, 92, 102 
Mehee, 313 
Melzi. de (afterward Duke of Lodi), 50, 94, 

96, 104 ; Vice-President of Italian Re- 
public, 252, 375, 379 
Mendoza, Cardinal Don Gonzales de. 532 
Merida, 464, 498 
Merle, General, 551 
Merlin (of Douai), 30, 32, 35, 132, 137, 146, 

164, 207 
Metgen, 214 
Methuan, 229 
Metz, 3, 8, 10 
Mexico, 527 
Mezerai, Mile., 196 
Milan, 47, 49, 50, 53, 61, 68, 90-93, 96, 101- 

107, 112, 117. 118. 126, 127, 130, 176, 177, 

375, 376, 379; 400, 497, 571, 572 
Millesimo, battle of, 47 
Milton, 260 
Miollis, Gen., 431 
Miot, Col. Jacques (Author's brother), 234, 

637, 60ti 
Mina, don Francisco Espoz y, 557, 593, 621, 

625, 639 
Mirabeau, 24 
Miranda, de Ebro, 433, 443, 447, 448, 453, 

454, 457, 458, 623, 624, 627 
Modena, Duke of, 47, 49 
Mohrenheim, Baron de, 479, 601, 607 
Moit de Melito, Count. — See Author 
Moitte (sculptor), 60 
M0I6, Count, Grand Judge, 672, 674 



Moliere, 25 

Molineri, 120, 122^ 124 

Mollieu, Count, Minister of the Treasury, 
335. 388, 674 

Moncey, Marshal, 447, 457, 482 

Mondovi, battle of, 47 

Monge, 60, 95, 110. 112. 118, 133, 175, 700 

Monk, 195, 387, 332 

Montaign, 692 

Montalivet, Count, 674 

Mont Blanc, 121 

Montbnin, General, 586 

Mont de Marsan, 638 

Montebello, 91, 92, 93, 91, 104, 396 

Montebello, Duchess of, 575 

Monte-Cinto, 231, 239 

Monte- Cristo, 239 

Monte d'Oro, 229, 231, 237-240 

Monte-Hermoso, Marquis de, 475, 497 

Montenotte. battle of, 47 

Montereau, 663 

Monte-Rotondo, 229-232, 237-240 

Montesquieu, Abb6, 356, 660 

Montezuma, 527 

Monti, Stephen, President of the Depart- 
ment of Corsica, 82 

Montmartre. 670, 671 

Montmirail, 663 

Montmorency, Matthieu de, 291 

Montoro. 507 

Montpelher, 178, 241 

Monsieur, — Bee Louis XVIII. 

Moore, General Sir John, 469-471 

Morand, General, '23(i 

Moreau, Genera], 103, 104, 105. 112, 143, 
151, 171 ; named as Bonaparte's succes 
sor, 173, 177, 179, 196 ; given command 
of the army of Germany, 197, 203, 257, 
288, 291, 301-308, 317, 319-321, 333, 339, 
340, 341, 343, 346, 350, 362, 607 

Moresea, A., 233, 234 

Morfontaine. 138, 170, 177, 178, 187, 188, 
250, 263,' 283, 290, 361, 376, 395, 551, 562, 
570, 573, 574, 637, 638, 641, 642, 643, 646, 
649, 654, 655, 656 

Morla, General. 452. 463, 4(;5 

Mortier. Marshal, 457, 48'i, 490, 492, 505, 
506, 512. 517, 565 

Moscow, 609, 610, 619, 637 

Moulin, General, 137 

Moulins, 636 

Moxcute, 609 

Mozarbfes, 614 

Mulgrave, Lord, 374 

MuUer, General, 228, 234, 236 

Munda, 527 

Munich, 313, 393 

Murat, King of Naples, General, 53, 60. 92, 
153, 252, 303 ; Madame, 341, 355. 372 ; 
Grand Duke of Berg, 405, 430 ; made 
King of Naples lender the title of King 
Joachim Napoleon, 431-433, 440, 449, 
487, 561. 646 

Murillo. 518 

Murquija, 628 

Murray. United States Minister to Paris, 1S8 

Murviedro, 560, 581, 586, 610 

NANSOUTY, General, 455 
Nantes, 300, 691, 692, 693 
Nantes, Francois de, 186 



INDEX. 



725 



Napioni, Cavaliei'e, 114 
Naples, 45, 48, 52, 53, %3, 74, 88, 92, 130, 269, 
281. 393-414, 419-433, 456, 4S7, 561, 570, 
634, 647 
Naples, King of. — See Bonaparte, Joseph, 

and Murat 
Napoleon, Prince Eugene. — See Beauhar- 

nais, Eugene de 
Narni, 71 
Nava-Cerrada, 494 
Navarre, 539, 543, 574, 589, 621, 625 
Necker, 4, 16 

Negretti, Marquis of Campo Alanje, 445 
Nelson, 130. 390 
Neri-Corsini, 41, 42, 46, 47, 75 
Netherlands, 694 
Neueburg, battle of, 179 
Neufchateau, Frangois de, 132, 134, 135. 136, 

137, 329, 331, 335, 363 ; Prince de 455 
NeufchatPl, Prince of, 543, 544, 546, 566, 
569, 574, 577, 582, 588, 589, 593, 634, 664, 
675 
New Era (explained), 28 
Ney, Marshal, Duke of Elchingen, 293, 355, 

447, 454, 457, 486, 487, 488,^565 
Nicastro, 409 
Nice, 47 111, 114 
Nimes, 37 
Niolo, 87 
Niort, 692, 693 
Noisette, 20, 229 
Nola, 412, 413 
Normandy, 361, 683 
Novaro. 97, 108 
Novosiltzof, 379, 380 



OCANA, 472, 499, 500, 502, 503, 516, 522, 
603, 609, 610 
O'Fari], 442, 526, 556, 567, 631, 637 
Olavidez. 507, 512 
Oldenburg, Duchy of, 583 
Olmedo, 597, 598 
Oporto, 486 
Oran, 550 

Orange, House of, 663 
Orduiia, 454 

Orense, Bishop of, 463. 487, 522 
Orezza, 232, 233, 239 
Orleans, 638, 674, 675, 677, 680 
Orleans, Duke of, 12, 257 
Ormone, General, 670 
Oropesa, 488 
Os Cardenos, 560 
Ostend, 294 
Ostiz, 632 

Otranto, 268, 269, 406, 428 
Otranto, Duke of, 702 
Otto, 23, 24, 29, 31, 271 
Oudinot, Marshal, 406 
Guvard and Vanderbergh, 388 



PACHE, 20, 21, 22 
Padua, 53 
Padula, 411 
Paie, 440 

Palafox, General, 457, 482, 483 
Palermo. 398, 414 
Pallas, 598 



Pampeluna, 483, 632, 639, 645 
Pancorvo, 623, 624 
Pandigz-ano, 410 

Paoli, General, 75, 78, 80. 81, 82, 220 
Paris, 10-12, 16-18, 21, 25, 29, 32. 33, 36, 37, 
92, 95, 100, 102, 105, 114. 127, 131-134, 
150, 151, 174, 637, 638, 643, 673 
Parma, 257 

Parma, Duke of, 47, 49, 75 ; infant of, 118 
Paioisses, 637 

Parque, Duke del, 442, 446, 463, 500 
Passeriano, 133 
Patriarch of the Indies, 643 
Patterson, Miss. 289 
Paul I., Czar of Russia, 187, 194, 314 
Pavia, 50 

Peace, Prince of the, 463 
Pelet, 35, 325, 348 

Peiia-Aranda, 595, 596. 597, 614, 616 
Pena de los Bnamorados, 530 
Pena, General, 450 
Pei-ignone, Senator, 406 
Perigneux, 638 
Peri'gia, 71 
Peschiera. 53 
Pestoja, 49 
Petiet. 270 
Philadelphia, 522 
Phihp II., 595 

Philip IV. of Spain, 473, 532 
Philip V. of Spain, 473, 494, 605 
Picardy, 347, 683 
Pichegru, 36, 103, 112, 149, 143, 171, 301-308, 

339, 840 
Picot, 300, 340 

Piedmont, 96-97, 98, 100, 108, 109, 111, 113, 
114 110, 119, 120, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 
128, 129, 130, 131, 194, 252, 257, 258, 276, 
356, 389 
Pietra, Santa, 241 
Pietri, Prefect of Golo, 229 
Pignatelli, Belmonte, Prince. — See Belmonte 

Pignatelli 
Pignatelli. Cerchiai'a, Prince, 419 
Pignotti, 78 
Pinhel, 591 
Piombino Canal, 234 
Pisa, 37, 38 
Pistoja, 55, 58, 59, 63 
Pittacus, 188 
Pius VI., 48, 49, 54, 57, 62-66, 68, 70, 72-74, 

91. 117, 118 
Pius VII., 180, 181, 183, 235, 342, 3S6, 358, 
S60, ;o64, S65, 375, 382, 401, 431, 432, 434- 
438, 696 
Pizarro, 519, 616 
Placencia, 490, 616 
Placentia, Duke of, 645 
Placenza, 257 
Plombieres, 284, 286 
Poitiers, 693 
Poland, 583, 588 
Polangis, 682 

Pclignacs, the, 9, 315 ; Armand de, 341 
Pompey, 527 
Portalis, 186, 207, 217, 218, 311, 325, 329, 3S5, 

336, 344 
Porteros, Isle de, 246 
Porte, the, 136 
Porto-Ferrajo 56 
Porto- Vecchio (Corsica), 225, 227 



726 



INDEX. 



Porttigal, 292, 389, 438, 439, 454, 457, 469, 
48(;-488, 496. 498, 500. 501, 504, 524, 543, 
547-549. 551-554, 559,' 560, 565, 580, 581, 
585, 587, 590-598, 600, 601. 603, 609, 611- 
616, 619. 620, 621, 622, 624, 625, 627, 628 

Poyannes, 637 

Pozzo di Borsco, 75 

Prado, 465, 467, 472, 479 

Prague, 638, 643 

Prairial, 104 

Prato 49 59 

Pr6ameneu,' Bigot de, 325, 336, 344, 348 

Presbnrg, 391, T393 

Presle, 637 

Prioca, Count de (Clement Damiano), 97, 
100, 101, 108, 127 

Provins, 668 

Prussia, 33, 293, 314. 372, 380, 415, 454 

Puebla de Arlanzon, 624, 625, 627, 628 

Puente-Laza, 624 

Puerto-Santa, 452 

Punheta. 560 

Punta del Reuoso, 229 

Pu3'lioo, 637 

Pyman, 146 

Pyrenees, 6S2, 647, 6f 9 



QUERELLE, cOO 
Qumette, 137 
Qui-si-sana, 413 

RADET, 399 
Ragusa, Marshal, Duke of, 581, 587, 

590, 591, 592, 595, 596, 597, 598, 607, 

608, 616, 668, 670, 675 
Eaisson, 163 

Eambouillet, 10, 569, 570, 670, 673, 674 
Eamolino, 241 
Ramon, 303 

Rastadt, 111, 113, 114, 133, 134, 135, 137 
Real. Councillor of State, 211, 212, 298, 302, 

306, 324, 348, 381 
Reding, General, 449, 450 
Reggio, 49, 55, 403, 406, 420 
Regnault, 380, 349 
Regnier, Duke of Massa-Carrara, Chief 

Judge. 151, 329; General, 402, 409, 420, 

428, 499 
Reille, General, 620, 631 
Reinhart, 23, 29, 30, 31. 137, 145, 146 
Remusat, SIme. de, 440 
Republican era, 28 
Republic, French, 92, 97, 125, 126 
Restonica, River, 84 
Revolution, French, 648 
Reynosa, 45S 
Reynouar.l, 651 
Rhine, 644, 615, 648. 659 
Rhine Provinces, 647 
Rimini, 375 

RioufEe, Captain, 160, 161, 246 
Riviere, de, 315, 341 
Rivoli, battle of, 73. 106 
Roberjot, French Minister, 137 
Robespierre, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 172, 

191 
T^ncamunda, 624- 
Rochefort, 36, 690 
Roda, 603 



Rodio, Marquis de, 407, 408, 410. 411 
Roederer, 106, 107, 151, 162, 177, 189, 196, 

207, 217, 218, 319, 320, 326. 329, 331, 

357, 358, 391, 399, 406, 412, 419, 420, 426, 

636. 637, 646 
Roger, Duces, 137 
Rohan, Rochefort, Charlotte of, 308 
RoUand, 306 
RoUe, Baron de, 273 
Romagna, 91 
Romainville, 668, 670 
Romana, Marquis de la, 463, 470, 562 
Rome, 45, 48, 57, 62. 63. 64, 66, 70, 72, 74, 

91, 117, 130, 181, 235, 342, 397, 401, 421, 

431-432, 434, 438, 696 
Rome, King of, born, 566, 569, 574, 659, 660, 

663, 668-670, 674 
Roraei-o, Don Manuel, 475 
Roncesvalles, 632 
Ronda, 525, 528, 539 
Rondujar, 449 
Rosely, Admiral, 390 
Rostolan, Brigadier-General, 145 
Rotondo, Monte, 85 
■Rotterdam, 139 
Rouen, 8, 9 
Rousseau, 418 

Rovigo, General, Duke of, 455 
Royalists, 306 
Rubiera, 49 
■Ruffln, General, 565 
RufEo, Cardinal, 130, 399, 406 
Rufeo, Cardinal Louis, 406. 410 
Russia, 41, 141, 145, 146, 201. 252, 254, 267, 

269, 271, 275, 280, 281, 289, 292, 293, 353- 

355, 361, 372, 389, 415, 425, 434, 438, 439, 

454, 455, 479, 572, 579, 583, 584, 588, 607, 

610, 618, 619 



SAAVEDRA. 522 
Sahagun,'470 
Saintes, 690 

Saint-Maur-sur-Marne, 682 
Saint-Omer, 2, 3 
Saint- Priest, Comte de, 11, 12 
Saint-Priest, General, 668 
Salamanca (Arapiles), 487, 490, 500, 581, 588, 

590, 593, 594, 596, 607, 612, 614, 615, 616, 

618, 620, 621, 622 
Salicetti, 50, 52. 57, 59, 62, 63, 76, 80, 81, 191, 

221, 225, 226, 379, 398, 403, 407, 408, 410, 

411, 419, 420, 426, 427 
Salinas, 593 
Salis Sansade, 2 
Salm, 356 
Salo, 72 

Salvatierra, 629, 631 
San Carlos, Duke of, 658 
San Cristoval, 596 
San Esteban, 632 
San Felipe, 609, 610 
San Ildefonso, 491-496, 550. 001 
San J nan. General Don Benito, 464 
San Lucar, 525 
San Miniato. 60, 240, 241 
San. Remo, 37 

Santa-Coloiia, Count de, 441 
Santa-Croce, Prince de, 191 
Santa-Cruz-de-Mudela, 488, 505, 506 
Santa-Cruz, Marquise de, 441 



INDEX. 



727 



Santa Elena, 506 - 

Santa F6, 580, 531 ; Duke of, 540, 543, 546, 

553. 562, 563, 655, 657 
Santa-Maria, 520, 521, 525, 526, 528, 623 
Santander, 458, 460, 486 
Santiago, 486 
Santochilder, 557 
Sara^ossa, 446, 457, 543. 606 
Sara^ossa, Bishop of, 469, 478. 482-484 
Sardinia, 75, 88, 96, 97, 111, 114, 118, 231, 

239; Government of, 100, 101, 108, 109, 

114 ; Kings of, 37, 47, 92, 96, 97, 99, 101, 

102, 108, 113-115, 120, 122, 126, 128, 129, 

194, 268, 438 
Sartena, 86, 87, 88 
Sarteno, 241 
Sarzano, 37, 241 
Satruguet, General, 222 
SansRiu-e, de, 121, 123 

Savary, General, 305, 339, 340, 446, 641, 642 
Savona, 432 
Savoy, 111, 114 
Scherez, General, 45 
Schimmelpenninck, Ambassador of Holland 

to Paris, 365 
Schonbrunn, 391, 393 
Schwarzenberg, Prince, 664, 665, 668, 677, 

679 
Scigliano, 405, 406 
Scipio, 671 
Sebastian!, General, 261, 270, 272, 273, 275, 

277, 288, 457, 478, 488-490, 505, 507, 508, 

517, 533 
Sechet, General, 501 
Segovia, 489, 494-496, 578, 592, 598-600, 606, 

617, 639 
Segur, Count Philip de, 164, 329; Grand 

Master of Ceremonies, 347, 358, 364, 385, 

386. 461, 678, 686 
Semonville, de, 46 ; French Minister to the 

Hague, 150 
Serida, 582 
Serrati, Francesco, Governor of Leghorn, 

afterward Prime Minister of Tuscany, 

42, 44, 45, 54, 55 
Serristori, 41 

Servau, Joseph, Minister of War, 20 
Seville, 443. 448, 449, 464, 474, 485, 499, 500, 

503, 505, 513-5-20, 522, 525, 536, 538, 541, 

542, 544, 581, 606, 607 
Sevres, 673 
Shakespeare, 260 
Shee, 186 
Sicily, 395, 397, 400, 403, 407, 410, 411, 425- 

427, 438 
Sierra Morena, 448, 450, 478, 485, 488, 492. 

496, 499, 501, 503, 505, 506, 509, 512, 513, 

515-517, 52-2, 539 
Sierra Nevada, 507, 531, 53') 
Sieyes, 32, 137, 151 ; his scheme of govern- 
ment, 155-157, 158, 170-173, 182, 195, 

288 
Si] as, 22 
Siloe, 532 

Simeon, 217, 218, 311, 332, 333 
Simon, General, 551 
Sinnamari, 36 

Slavery, Bonaparte on, 198, 199 
Somme, Biver. 294 
Somo-Sierra, 461. 464 
Sora, Island of, 415 



Sotin, French Ambassador to Genoa, 117 

Sonham, General, 612, 613 

Soult, Marshal. Duke of Dalmatia, 455. 457, 
458, 469, 470, 4S6-4S8, 490-492, 497, 499, 
501, 514, 524, 533, 541, 542, 544, 546, 

559, 564, 565, 560, 581, 584, 590-595, 600, 
606, 607, 609-616, 619, 620, 636, 637, 645, 
694 

Soutb A?nerica, 573 

Spain, 33, 62, 73, 74, 183; Queen of. 196, 

254, 258, 372, 380, 389, 424, 425, 428, 431- 

434, 438, 471, 570, 574, 576-640, 646, 647, 

658 
Spain, Grand Inquisitor of, 644 
Spanocchi. Governor, 45-59 
Spoleto, 7i 
Spoores, 146 
St. Adrian, de, 475 
Stael, Mme. de, 163, 291, 292 
St, Angelo, Mount, 412, 413 
St. Antoine, 695 
St. Augustin, 462 
St. Bernard, Mount, 123, 124 
St. Cloud. 151-153, 159, 247, 248, 268, 281, 

284, 291, 292, 294, 329, 332, 334, 335, 342, 

343, 345, 347, 350, 358, 375, 381, 382, 385, 

394, 431, 574, 645 
St. Cyr, General Gouvion, 186, 456, 457 
St. Denis, 638 

St. Domingo, 222, 275, 290, 571 
St. Januarius, 422-424, 429 
St. Jean d'Angely, Kegnault de.— See D'An- 

gely 
St. Jean, engagement at, 47 
St. Jean de Luz. 633-636, 639 
St. Jean Pied de Port, 632 
St. Julien, Count, 177, 178 
St. Just, 26-28 
St. Leu-Taverny, 300 
St. Marceau, 695 

St. Marsan, de, 99, 100, 113, 114, 128 
St, Martin, 624 
St. Martin, de, 118 
St. Petersburg, 269, 353, 425, 583 
St. Rejeant, Lieutenant, 218 
St. Remy, 122, 123 
St. Roque, 527 
St. Sebastian, 645 
St. Tropez, 223 
St. Valery, 300 
Strasburg. 309, 310 
Strolz, General, 497 
Styria, 91, 97 
Subijano, de Alva, 628 
Suchet, General, Duke of Albufera, 457, 

560, 562, 580, 581, 586, 587, 592, 604-606 
Survilliers, Count de.— See Bonaparte, Jo- 
seph 

Suwarrow, 137 

Swabia, 391 

Sweden, 35, 607; Prince Royal of, 643, 665, 

667 
Sweden, Princess of, 635, 636, 648, 645, 671, 

676, 678, 679. 681 
Switzerland, 35. 137, 268, 271, 276, 354, 389, 

648, 655, 676, 681, 687 



rpAGLIAMENTO, 91 



Talavera, de la Reyna, 464, 469, 488, 
489-492, 496-498, 516, 5S5, 588, 592, 601 



728 



INDEX. 



Talleyrand, de, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
101, 102, 104, 10(5, 108, 100. Ill, 119, 126, 
127, 132, 130. 137, 151, 152, 184, 185, 188, 
204, 209, 260, 266, 268, 272, 275, 277, 292, 
308, 309, 311, 313, 315, 329, 335 ; Grand 
Chamberlain, 358, 370, 371, 374, 381, 
386, 391, 396, 398, 401 ; Prince, 439, 563, 
665, 666, 672, 676, 678, 681, 695 

Tallien, 542 

Talon, 213 

Tamanes, 615 

Tarento, 406, 416, 425, 428 

Tarongon, 610 

Tarragona, 560, 581, 582 

Tartas 637 

Tasso (the poet), 233, 234, 413 

Tavignano (Riv.), 84 

Teja, Marquis de, 535 

Tennis Court, oath of, 8 

Ter Neef , 378 

Terni, 71 

Terrorists, 205, 211, 212, 215-219, 324, 349 

Texel, 140 

Theodosius, Emperor of Rome, 519 

Thibandeau, 186, 687 

Thi6bault, General, 577, 629 

Thomire, General, 597 

Thouni, 220 

Thuriot, 30 

Tiberius, Emperor, 509 

Tilly, Count de, 522 

Tilsit, peace of, 420, 421, 424, 428, 438, 439, 
454, 571 

Timoleon, 218 

Titian, 534 

Titus, 530 i 

Toledo, 449, 466, 472, 474, 478, 489-492, 499, 
504, 542, 549, 585, 587, 601, 606, 611, 616 

Toledo, Fernando de, 619 

Tolentino, 91 

Tolosa, 6S2 

Topius-Lebrun (painter), 191, 217 

Tordesillas, 470 

Torregiano, 532 

Torres Lodrones, 601 

Torres Vedpas, 551 

Tortosa, 560, 639 

Toulon, 135, 220-223 

Tour du Pin, Comfce de la, Minister of War, 
7, 11, 12, 17 

Tours, 675 

Toussaint I'Ouverture, 222 

Trafalgar, 390, 521, 523 

Trajan, Emperor of Rome, 495, 519, 530 

Treaties : France with Prussia, etc., 83 ; 
with Tuscany, 33 ; with the Pope, 63 ; 
Talentino, 91 ; with Sardinia, 97 ; 
Camp-Formio, which see ; with United 
States, 187; with Austria, at Luneville, 
220 ; with England, at Amiens, 235 ; 
difficulties arising in carrying out the 
Treaty of Amiens, 260-270; Treaty of 
Presburg, 391 ; Peace of Tilsit, 420 ; at 
Valonga, restores the throne of Spain to 
Ferdinand VII, 658 : Congress of Ber- 
lin, 663 

Treilhard, 133, 137, 146, 304, 324, 325, 329, 
335, 601 

Tres Puentes, 627; 628 

Treviso, Marshal, Duke of, 668, 670, 675 

Trilleport, 668 



Trombetta, 125 

Trouve, French Ambassador to Milan (Cis- 
alpine Republic), 117, 130 

Troyes, 670 

Truguet, Admiral, Councillor of State, 198, 
207, 208, 210, 216, 314 

Tudela, 461, 463, 482, 625 

Tuileries, 4, 61, 137, 158, 175, 178, 181, 188, 
192, 204, 248, 257, 272, 285, 315, 342. 362, 
363, 365, 867, 386, 394, 570, 572, 575, 5&3, 
646, 654, 674, 677, 678, 681, 686, 687 

Turin, 75, 76, 90, 96, 97, 98-102, 108, 109, 
111-114, 116-120, 124-130, 133, 134, 361 

Turkey, 438, 439 

Tuscany, 83, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 50, 52, 55-58, 
61, 73, 74, 76, 78, 80, 194, 258 ; trans- 
formed into Etrudia (which see), 575 

Tyrol, 391 



UCLi:s, 474 
Udine, 102, 106-110, 133 
Udine, Juan of (painter), 514 
United States, 35, 177, 187, 289, 434, 522, 

544, 571, 637 
Urbino, 431 
Urguijo, 442, 657 
Utrecht, 658 
Utretra, 520 



VADIER, 86 
Vado, 45 
Valais, Republic of, 122, 123 
Val de Carros, 614 
Val de Moro, 492, 601 
Valdes, 518 

"Valdeverra, Castillo do, 535 
Valengay, 545, 658, 659 
Valencia, 501, 504, 558, 560, 561, 578, 581, 

586-589, 592, 601, 603-606, 608-610, 612, 

638 
Valladolid, 469-471, 486-500, 543, 544, 547, 

551, 578, 396, 597, 611, 616, 620-622, 623, 

634 
Vallongue, General, 409 
Van der Goes, 146, 149 
Van Hoff, President of Dutch Directory, 

146, 148, 149 
Vargas, 492 
Vargas, Louis de, 518 
Vatar, 163 
Vaublanc, 303, 351 
Vaubois, 331 
Vauchelle, 19 
Velez, 529 

Vendome, Place, 677 
Vcnegas, General, 485, 488-492, 498, 499 
Venice, 45, 53, 54, 73, 91, 95, 104, 114, 139, 

391, 424, 425 
Venta de San Rafael, 598 
Vera, 632 

V6ra, General Don Fernand de la, 465 
Verdier, General, 410 
Vernet, 682 
Vernier, 331 
Verona, 51, 53, 79 
Versailles, 1, 3, 4 ; Court of, 6, 7-10, 14, 16- 

18, 55, 347, 494, 575, 638, 672, 673, 681, 

682 
Verviers, 379 



R D - 8 9. 



J\r. 



INDEX. 



729 



Vespasian, 530 _ 
Vesuvius, 409, 413 

Vicenza,' Duke of, 649, 654 655, 659, 663, 

667 
Vicby, 635, 6m 
Victor, Amadeus III., King of Sardinia, 

96 ; daughters of, 99 
Victor, Marshal. Duke of Belluno. 457, 458, 

469, 472, 474, 478, 488-492, 499, 505, 507, 

509, 512, 514. 515. 517, 519. 524, 565 
Vienna, 89, 41, 46, 91, 92, 105,' 112, 134. 178, 

311, 347, 381, 382, 391, 400, 454, 516. 663, 

695, 696 
vienne. 692 
Vigo, 487 

Vigo-e]-Ferrol, 486 
Viiate, General, 508 
ViUafranca, 551 
Vina-:SIaria, Count of. 449 
Villate, General, 622 ' 
Villa Tobos, 603 
Villemanzy, Senator, 68c 
Villeneuve, Admiral, 390 
Vimar, 335 

VJmicero, battle of. 453 
Vinceones, 310-312, 483 
Viotri, 411 
Virillo, 505 
Virnes, General. 621 
Viscardi, 427 
Visconti, Mme., 191 
Viterbo, 71 
Vittoria, 433. 447, 448. 454-457, 474, 577. 581, 

593, 6I9; 621, 622, 624-626, 628, 629. 631, 

633, 635 
Vivario, 85 

Volney, 32, 151, 167, 183 
Voltaire, 418 
Vosges, 659 



WAGRAJVr. Prince of, 688 
Warsaw, 285 

Waterloo, 702 

Wedel, General, 449-451 

Wellington, Duke of (Sir Arthur Wellesley). 
443, 485, 487-488. 492, 498, 587. 591. 594, 
597,599, 601-603, 611, 612, 614. 615, 621- 
623, 631 

Westphalia, King of. — See Bonaparte, Jer- 
ome. 

Westphalia, Queen of, 643, 646 

WTiitworth, Lord, English Ambassador to 
Paris, 257, 260-262, 264-280 

Wilna, 571 

Wiirmser, 65, 72, 73 

Wiirtemberg, 391 

Wiirtemberg, King of, &43 



XATIVA, 605 
Xerez, 519, 520. 521, 522, 525, 526 
Ximena-Diaz, wife of the Cid, 578 
Ximenes, Cardinal, 549. 550 



"V^ORK, Duke of, 141, 142, 145 



ZADORA, 628 
Zamora, 6, 16 
Zegri?, 534 

Zelada, Cardinal, Secrct.iry of State, 65 
Zurbaran, 518 
Zurich. 1.38 
Zype, 141, 14S 



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